While you’re outside, using your phone to browse the web is to be expected, but when you’re at home, it would be more comfortable using a computer. However, there are times when we might prefer using our phones, but that presents a problem when you’re trying to move from phone to PC.

However, the good news is that in the latest Chrome Canary, Google has introduced a new feature called “Shared clipboard”. Basically, what this does is that users will be able to copy content from Chrome on one device, and then they can paste it on another device. This will be useful if you want to copy and paste content from one device to the other, where in the past you might have to send yourself an email to do so.

This seems to be an expansion of the “Send to your Devices” feature, which in case you did not know, was introduced in Chrome 77. What this does is that users will be able to send web content from your desktop to mobile and vice versa, so this Shared Clipboard feature is similar in nature but focuses more on specific content that you want to copy.

That being said, this feature is only available in Chrome Canary which is kind of like the version of Chrome that tests out features in beta. We’re not sure when it will find its way to the stable release, but it does sound pretty useful and we wouldn’t mind seeing it released soon.

September 13th 2019, 10:48 pm

DC’s Suicide Squad movie seemed like it was rather promising when it was released back in 2016, but the reviews proved otherwise. This is why we’re sure that many critics are pretty excited that the movie will be rebooted with James Gunn helming it in the director’s chair.

Now in a tweet by Gunn, he has shared what appears to be the cast of the upcoming movie where you might recognize some names that are coming back. This includes Joel Kinnaman who was cast as Rick Flag in the original movie, Jai Courtney who played Captain Boomerang, Margot Robbie who took on the role of Harley Quinn in the original movie, and Viola Davis who played as Amanda Waller in the first movie.

It is unclear if these characters will be reprising their roles which could be a bit confusing as Gunn’s Suicide Squad is said to be a “total reboot”, but we’ll just have to wait and see. There are plenty of big names attached to this movie as well, such as John Cena, Nathan Fillion, and Idris Elba, just to name a few.

However, as Gunn notes in his tweet where he said, “Don’t get too attached”, it suggests that not all these characters might survive. The movie is currently set for a release in 2021 and with Gunn’s success with the Guardians of the Galaxy series, hopefully he will be able to deliver the Suicide Squad we deserve.

September 13th 2019, 10:48 pm

Like a lot of online subscriptions these days, family plans are now becoming more popular. This is because it allows more users to use a service in a more affordable manner without having to buy individual subscriptions. If you’re a Nintendo Switch owner, you might be interested in a change the company is making.

In a tweet by Nintendo of Europe, the company has revealed that they will soon be allowing Nintendo Switch Online subscribers to convert their existing memberships into a Family Membership. This means that if you had a solo membership with some time left on it, you won’t have to wait for it to expire before switching to a Family Membership.

The tweet claims that gamers will be able to use their remaining time on their memberships to get a discount on the Family Membership. More details are expected to be shared soon as these changes will be coming into effect on the 1st of October. To give you some content, the Family Membership plan for Switch Online is set at $35 for an entire year where it will support up to eight Nintendo account holders.

Starting 01/10, you’ll be able to use the remaining days of your #NintendoSwitchOnline Individual Membership as a discount when purchasing a Family Membership! More details, such as discount rates, will be available on our website at a later date. pic.twitter.com/Dk27RVXJxr

September 13th 2019, 10:48 pm

One of the features that we’re seeing more handset makers introduce to their phones is reverse wireless charging, where the phones themselves offer wireless charging capabilities which can charge other devices, like another smartphone or wireless earbuds. This is a feature that had been rumored to find its way to the iPhone 11 lineup.

However, at Apple’s event where the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max were announced, the feature was missing from the list. This seemed to corroborate some very last minute rumors that revealed that Apple might not announce it. Could it be that the earlier rumors were wrong all this while?

According to famed insider Sonny Dickson, yes and no. In a tweet by Dickson, he claims that based on what his sources have told him, Apple’s new iPhones do support reverse wireless charging, and that the hardware is actually present in phones. However, it seems that it has been disabled in the software.

Reliable sources are saying iPhone 11 and 11 Pro do include the hardware for bilateral charging, but that it is software disabled. Uncertain whether this was removed prior to final production run.

However, he notes that it is unclear if the hardware could potentially be removed ahead of the final production. We suppose if we want to be certain, we’ll have to wait for the folks at iFixit to do their customary teardowns. It is also not clear why Apple decided to pull the feature at the very last minute, but perhaps it wasn’t up to scratch yet.

September 13th 2019, 10:06 pm

Several years ago, a company created a version of black that they called the blackest black ever. It was known as Vantablack and apparently it boasted the ability to absorb 99.965% of light. If you thought that was crazy, it turns out that scientists at MIT might have accidentally created a new version that’s even blacker.

The scientists were originally experimenting with ways to grow carbon nanotubes on chlorine-etched aluminum foil to help boost their electrical and thermal properties. However, it seems that in the process of doing so, they ended up creating a material that was so black that they found it could absorb 99.995% of light, making it even blacker than Vantablack.

To show off their discovery, they have taken a 16.78-carat natural yellow diamond and coated it with the material. It is currently being showcased at an art exhibit titled “The Redemption of Vanity” at the New York Stock Exchange where instead of it being bright and sparkling like one might expect of a diamond, it has been said to look like a flat, black void.

The scientists believe that this material could have practical applications, such as being used as optical blinders to reduce unwanted glare to help space telescopes spot orbiting exoplanets. In the meantime, Vantablack has also found some commercial use where BMW recently unveiled a car coated in the material.

September 13th 2019, 10:06 pm

These days there is a greater emphasis than ever on looking for renewable sources of energy. This is because our natural resources are finite and eventually, we will run out of more traditional forms of energy. This is why many companies are turning to the use of solar, wind, and hydro forms of renewable energy.

However, besides those, what else could be used? Turns out that the coldness of outer space could potentially act as a form of renewable energy as well. In fact, in a paper published on Thursday, scientists at UCLA have actually managed to harness the cold of outer space using just a $30 device, where they managed to draw enough power to power up an LED bulb.

While this is a far cry from being able to power entire cities, homes, or server farms, it does show the potential of it. The device in question is based off a thermoelectric generator that can generate electricity from the difference in temperature from a “hot side” and a “cold side”, where one side is aimed at the ground and the other side is aimed towards the sky.

This is not a new discovery and is known as radiative cooling, but according to one of the researchers Aaswath Raman, “This is honestly an experiment a high school student could do, and probably will do at some point. The simplicity is what makes it compelling.” However, Raman notes, “The big caveat with this work that I’d like to state upfront…is that the amount of power we’re generating is very small.”

September 13th 2019, 10:06 pm

There have been many instances in the past of people who have suddenly gone missing and disappeared seemingly without a trace. That was the case with Wiliam Earl Moldt, who back in November 1997, went missing. The initial reports revealed that Moldt had called his girlfriend at 9:30PM at night, letting her know he would be leaving the club soon and heading home.

Moldt was then reported to have left the club at 11PM and while one might assume a couple of scenarios, apparently Moldt was not intoxicated and he had left alone, but yet for some reason, he just never made it home. It seemed like a case that just could not be solved, until Google Earth was used by a property surveyor.

According to the property surveyor, they noticed something odd about the retention pond in a housing development in Wellington, Florida, and upon zooming in, discovered a car inside of it. The police who arrived at the scene and pulled the car out of the water claimed that it was heavily calcified and that there were skeletal remains, which were later identified by a coroner as Moldt.

Speaking to the BBC, it was speculated that perhaps Moldt might have lost control of his car on the way home and drove into the pond. According to police spokeswoman Therese Barbera, “You can’t determine what happened that many years ago, what transpired. All we know is that he went missing off the face of the Earth, and now he’s been discovered.”

September 13th 2019, 9:18 pm

Like the majority of food delivery apps, the Domino’s Pizza app comes with the ability for customers to leave a note. This means that users can leave messages to note food allergies, extra napkins, delivery instructions, and so on. However, it seems that someone decided to use the app that resulted in a home getting swatted.

For those unfamiliar, swatting is basically where someone calls the police and claims that there is a hostage situation at an address. Since police have no way of verifying if these calls are real, they have no choice but to assume that it is, and typically they show up in full tactical gear, guns drawn.

According to the FBI, “Swatting is the making of a hoax call to any emergency service to elicit an emergency response based on the false report of an ongoing critical incident. Incidents typically produce the deployment of SWAT units, bomb squads, and other police units, as well as the evacuations of schools, businesses and residences.”

Thankfully in this particular case, no one was hurt. The people living in the house were said to have been escorted out and interviewed, but none of them seemed to know what was going on. The police are now investigating the incident and believe that this could be a case of swatting. In the past, there have been some incidents of swatting in which people have either died or been injured.

September 13th 2019, 9:18 pm

iOS 13 has yet to be released, although we heard, it could be coming out next week. However, it seems that ahead of the update’s release, an exploit has already been discovered. If the exploit is taken advantage of, it will allow an unauthorized user to bypass your lockscreen to access your contact list.

This exploit was initially discovered by Jose Rodriguez and shared with The Verge. Rodriguez had initially reported the exploit to Apple on the 17th of July, but apparently it is still very much present in the Gold Master version of iOS 13. For those unfamiliar, Gold Master is pretty much the final version ahead of its release and is more or less the same as the final release.

This means that when iOS 13 does eventually get pushed out to the masses, the exploit should still be there. So how does this work? Basically it involves users activating a FaceTime call and then accessing the voice over feature from Siri. This will enable users to access your contact list even when the phone’s screen is locked.

We’re not sure why Apple hasn’t gotten around to fixing it yet, but that being said, this exploit will require a person to have physical access to your iPhone to begin with, so it’s not as if it can be done remotely. You can check out the video above to see the exploit in action.

September 13th 2019, 9:18 pm

Last week, Nintendo teased a new gaming accessory for the Nintendo Switch. The accessory in question looked like some kind of fitness-related accessory where users could squeeze it and attach Joy-Con controllers to it. Now it looks like the accessory has since been made official where it is known as the Ring Fit Adventure.

The gadget comes in two parts, one of which is the Ring-Con and the other is the Leg Strap. This can be used to interact with games, like for example with the Leg Strap, Nintendo has suggested that users can wear it on their leg and run in place to move their characters in a game.

They can also squeeze the Ring-Con to control their attacks in the game. The idea is that by using these on a daily basis, Nintendo believes it will give gamers a good workout and also work various parts of their bodies at the same time.

According to Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, “Nintendo is always looking for ways to surprise people with one-of-a-kind, fresh experiences. Ring Fit Adventure combines gaming and physical activity in a way that incentivizes people to keep coming back for more, to further both the story and their own fitness goals.”

It looks rather novel but if you’re interested in getting your hands on it, the Ring Fit Adventure will be available on the 18th of October where it will be priced at $80.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

Disney+ is currently slated for a launch in November, but it seems that for some living in the Netherlands, the service has gone live in the region. The good news is that thanks to the service going live in the form of a trial version of the service, we have an idea of some of the content that we can look forward to, such as classic Marvel animated series from the 90s.

This is according to a tweet by GJ Kooijman living in Amsterdam, where upon launching Disney+, he discovered that it played home to a ton of classic Marvel cartoons, like the X-Men and Spider-Man series from the 90s. If you grew up watching these shows, then this could be a nice throwback to the past.

However, we should note that generally speaking, the content from streaming services tend to vary from region to region. This is possibly due to copyright and licensing issues, so it is unclear as to whether these cartoons are limited to the Netherlands or if it will be a staple across all regions that Disney+ will be available in.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

Windows 10 updates are not always ‘smooth’. We have observed this on numerous occasions that a new update may introduce more problems than it really solves. With the latest Windows 10 Update (KB4515384), the start menu and the Windows desktop search fails to work for some users.

Microsoft sheds some light on this issue by explaining it as:

Microsoft is getting reports that a small number of users may not receive results when using Windows Desktop Search and may see high CPU usage from SearchUI.exe when searching after installing KB4512941. This issue is only encountered on devices in which searching the web from Windows Desktop Search has been disabled.

So, basically, if you fail to launch the start menu and cannot utilize the search functionality from the desktop, it becomes a big inconvenience. The CPU spiking issue with the first September update was nasty and it was not a pleasant experience for a lot of users. And, following the dreaded issue, the fix for that introduced another annoying problem.

Also, an interesting thing to note – the Windows desktop search issue was also encountered by some users in the previous update. So, it should have been fixed by now.

Even though Microsoft mentions ‘a small number of users’ are facing this issue, it clearly seems like a system-breaking issue. So, if you have not updated yet, we insist you wait it out – unless you are sure about what you are doing.

It does not look like Microsoft’s really into the game for ‘stable’ updates in this month. However, Microsoft did acknowledge this issue in their official documentation for known issues on Windows 10. As of now, there is no available fix for the issue. As per the official docs, they are currently investigating the issue and will provide an update when more information is available.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

Streaming services like Spotify offer up family plans which allows multiple users to enjoy a subscription at the same time at a cheaper rate. This is ideal for families where instead of paying for four separate subscriptions, you can just pay for one at a slightly more affordable price.

However, as expected, users have been abusing these plans where instead of being shared amongst family members, they are shared amongst friends or even strangers. Last year, Spotify started cracking down on this abuse and now it looks like they might have come up with a way to fight it, even if it means tracking your location.

According to CNET, it appears that Spotify has recently updated its terms and conditions for its Premium Family subscribers, where from time to time, you might be asked to provide your current location to “prove” that you are a family living together. According to the terms and conditions, activating the Premium Family account will require users to verify their home address.

In a statement made in response to those balking at this request, Spotify said, “This data is encrypted and can be edited by the plan owner as needed. The location data that is collected during Premium Family account creation is only used by Spotify for that purpose.” If you’re uncomfortable with these new changes, you will have up to 30 days to cancel your subscription after these new terms come into effect.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

One of the selling points of the GoPro is that it is small. This means that taking it with you on the go is pretty easy as it is small enough to fit in your pocket or bag. However, the small form factor also means that you would need to compromise on certain things, but that could change with the GoPro Hero 8.

Thanks to leaked images obtained by WinFuture.de, it appears that the upcoming GoPro Hero 8 will come with an accessory known as the “media module”. As you can see in the image above, this media module accessory will allow users to attach a variety of accessories to it, such as an external light that will help illuminate your subjects.

In addition to the media module, it seems that GoPro has plans for more accessories, such as a “Floaty” accessory where it will help prevent the camera from sinking in the water while adding extra padding to it. This is not the first time we’ve heard about the Hero 8. Back in August, leaked specs suggested that it could support 4K video record at 120 FPS.

There is no word on when the camera will be launched, but last we heard, it was targeted for a launch in September so perhaps we’ll learn more in the coming weeks.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

Have you ever encountered billing issues with the iTunes App Store, where a subscription gets put on pause when there is an error trying to bill the credit card that you’ve attached to your account? If you have, you’ll be pleased to learn that Apple will be introducing a billing grace period for App Store subscriptions.

According to a post on Apple’s Developer website, it reads, “We’ve worked closely with leading developers to create a solution for reducing customer churn while improving the experience for auto-renewable subscriptions. With the new grace period for unsuccessful auto-renewals, subscribers can continue accessing your app’s paid content while Apple attempts to collect payment — allowing them time to fix the issue.”

It’s actually not surprising that Apple is doing everything they can to keep customers subscribed for as long as possible. This is because subscriptions ensure a steady source of revenue, versus single one-off purchases. It will also allow Apple to consistently collect their share from the subscriptions without really having to do much.

According to Apple, the grace period will vary from subscription duration. For example, a one week subscription will offer a 6 day grace period, and one month subscription with a 16 day subscription, and so on.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

As bizarre it might sound, the digital evolution involves a lot of weird improvements – including aircrafts tracking your bathroom activity, to say the least. According to a report by Bloomberg, Airbus planes are trying to make the cabins “digitally aware” and monitor your activities for insights to help the passenger in an efficient manner.

Dubbed as “Airspace Connected Experience“, Airbus says that it aims to provide a personalized passenger experience by utilizing Internet Of Things (IoT). In the press release, Airbus also added:

Airbus becomes the first aircraft manufacturer to undertake such flight-testing of actual connected cabin innovations. The platform, known as the Airspace Connected Experience, was unveiled at APEX Expo last year. It will usher in a new personalised experience for passengers and provide opportunities for improving airlines’ ancillary revenues and operational efficiencies.

The connected cabin experience will involve monitoring almost anything essential, ranging from seat belt unlocks to the availability of toilet paper/soap in the bathroom. If that’s not enough, it also aims to monitor the waiting line outside the bathroom and also determine whether the person inside the bathroom needs help.

The sensors will do all the work while the crew will be able to access this data to respond if something’s needed before it becomes an issue. It will not only help the airlines improve the passenger experience but it will significantly reduce the costs as well. The crew will also be able to control the window shades and get insights on the vacant seats, pre-order for meals, and a lot of things.

In addition to the passenger’s experience, the insights will act as a feedback to the services offered by the airlines. So, they can analyze the data to improve/cut costs where it is needed. Now, this is in an experimental phase in its test aircraft and plans to roll out for the customers by 2021.

Are you excited about this? In either case, what do you think about it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

There are many ways to backup your phone and Google Drive is one of them. However, if you need more storage than what Google Drive has to offer by default, then you might want to check out Google One. This is because in an announcement by Google, it seems that Google One plans will now include automatic phone backups.

According to Google, “We’ve taken the standard Android backup (that includes texts, contacts, and apps) and we’re giving you even more. With automatic phone backup by Google One, you’ll also be able to back up original quality photos, videos, and multimedia messages (MMS), and you can manage your backups directly from the Google One app.”

For those who are unfamiliar with Google One, this is basically the paid version of Google’s cloud storage service. Users who aren’t satisfied with the base storage offered in Google Drive can opt to pay a monthly subscription where they’ll be able to upgrade their storage. Now that it offers the ability to backup your Android phone, you might want to take advantage of it in the event you ever lose your device and need to restore it.

Subscribers to Google One can choose from 100GB of storage which will be priced at $1.99 a month, 200GB for $2.99 a month, or 2TB for $9.99 a month.

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

As spotted by Electrek, Tesla seems to have filed a patent that hints at a new longer-lasting battery with better performance and cheaper costs. The patent can be found at Wipo’s patentscope if you are curious about all the technical details. In either case, let us talk about what’s worth noting here.

The patent lists Jeffery Dahn (Tesla’s battery research partner) and his team as the inventors. For the specifics, the abstract of the patent mentions that it is an “improved” battery system based on two-additive electrolyte systems including 1,2,6-oxodithiane-2,2,6,6-tetraoxide.

These additives tend to improve the performance of Li-ion based batteries. The patent also describes the situation as follows:

Electrolyte additives have been shown to be operative and increase the lifetime and performance of Li-ion-based batteries. For example, in J. C. Burns et al., Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 160, A1451 (2013), five proprietary, undisclosed electrolyte additives were shown to increase cycle life compared to an electrolyte system with no or only one additive. Other studies have focused on performance gains from electrolyte systems containing three or four additives as described in U.S. 2017/0025706. However, researchers typically do not understand the interaction between different additives that allow them to work together synergistically with the electrolyte and specific positive and negative electrodes. Thus, the composition of additive blends of certain systems is often based on trial and error and cannot be predicted beforehand.

An improvement in the battery to last longer is crucial to electric cars. So, even though it is a patent by Tesla – we might see this being adopted by its competitors unless they come up with something better.

In addition to the increase in performance and lifetime of the battery, the patent also reveals that the new solution will be cheaper because of the two-additives system. Here’s what the patent describes about reducing costs:

This disclosure covers novel battery systems with fewer operative, electrolyte additives that may be used in different energy storage applications, for example, in vehicle and grid-storage. More specifically, this disclosure includes two-additive electrolyte systems that enhance performance and lifetime of Li-ion batteries, while reducing costs from other systems that rely on more additives. This disclosure also discloses effective positive electrodes and negative electrodes that work with the disclosed two-additive electrolyte systems to provide further systematic enhancements.

With the new patent in place, it looks like that Tesla is onto something serious here and we shall soon expect this to be implemented in the upcoming Tesla lineups (or iterations).

What’s your take on this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

LA Times reported that the Toyota Moto Corp., Sharp Corp., and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan (NEDO) are joining hands to make this work and test a Prius. Of course, no matter who leads or works for the project – this will be a groundbreaking innovation if it really works.

Of course, we are not going to witness this anytime in the near future. However, the report by LA Times shed some really incredible plans that will make it one of the most anticipated breakthrough if it happens. For instance, their goal involves a car which does not need to stop in order to charge up. That is very ambitious and if we get to see something like that – we shall be overwhelmed.

Electric cars are super efficient compared to petroleum vehicles. But, they still need a charging station. With the solar-powered tech, Toyota wants us to utilize free energy from the Sun to charge up the car and be able to provide enough power to last the whole night. It sounds all well and good but to put it in action, that is going to be a tough challenge for them.

“The solar car’s advantage is that — while it can’t drive for a long-range — it’s really independent of charging facilities,” said Koji Makino, a project manager at Toyota to LA Times.

In addition to the plan, Toyota also shared a few bits of information on what they are planning for the solar-powered car. Unlike other cars, the roof, the curves on the hood or the hatchback happens to be one of the areas where they plan to utilize the solar cells.

What do you think about Toyota’s goal on this? Considering them as one of the best car manufacturers in Japan, do you think they will succeed?

September 13th 2019, 8:07 pm

During today’s Apple media event in Silicon Valley, the company has announced the iPhone 11 ($699+) and the iPhone 11 Pro ($999+), which also features its most powerful camera system to date.

The iPhone 11 Pro comes with 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch displays, the latter is called the iPhone 11 Pro Max ($1099+). Apple has slightly pulled back the launch prices since last year, as the launch of the iPhone Xs showed that a higher price was no longer sustainable.

Triple Camera

The iPhone 11 Pro camera system is clearly the most anticipated update, and it is somewhat catching up with the competition, with a triple-lens rear camera and a hefty list of image processing features.

However, the general specifications were somewhat disappointing, with relatively small apertures, which require a Night Mode (long exposure) to deal with dark scenes.

The addition of an Ultrawide camera is a very welcome addition that opens a world of possibilities to iOS users. Years after LG introduced ultrawide photography to the mobile industry, Ultrawide has truly become ubiquitous at the high end.

The zoom capabilities have not changed much, with the same 52mm but we’ll have to take a closer look at the whole camera module. Apple correctly calls its zoom “4X” because it goes from 13mm (ultrawide) to 52mm (zoom) but don’t be confused: the maximum optical zoom is still 52mm, like on last year’s model.

Design

On the surface, the overall shape and look of the iPhone 11 Pro aren’t very different, especially from the front of the phone which retains the same large notch at the top. However, Apple is using a new rear glass which seems much thicker and perhaps less prone to breakage, and that would be great because the Apple glass replacements/repairs are the most expensive in the industry.

The metal frame around the phone is made of stainless steel, which is proven to be more durable and more resistant to scratches than aluminum. However, it is also significantly heavier, especially for the iPhone 11 Pro Max. That said, we expect the overall feel to remain similar to iPhone Xs and Xs Max.

The updated industrial design looks good, even though the camera module is visually a bit off-balance when compared to competitors like Huawei, Samsung, or even Motorola. But, it’s probably not that big of a deal since iPhone users can’t really be swayed by this.

Display: Super Retina XDR

Apple’s high-end handset displays have always been excellent, and this is no exception. With 2436×1125 and 2688×1242 resolutions, they aren’t the sharpest displays available (458PPI versus ~550PPI for some competitors), but the color quality and brightness is right up there with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.

Higher sharpness is not absolutely required, except for VR applications where you could really “see” the difference.

In fact, chances are that Samsung is the supplier of the OLED panel because we haven’t seen anyone else is building a 1200 NITs OLED panel for phones. Apple retains its unique haptic feedback system (it simulates a click feel with vibrations) and boasts having excellent spatial audio using both a proprietary algorithm and Dolby’s Atmos sound rendering engine.

The display is HDR 10, and Dolby Vision certified, so if you find compatible content, the visuals will be top-notch.

A13 Bionic Processor

Because Apple builds processors (SoC) only for itself, it can optimize efficiency more than silicon vendors that have to please a large number of customers with different needs and wants. That is totally true.

Apple’s A13 Bionic should keep Apple in the lead when it comes to synthetic CPU performance. The previous generation didn’t always win the graphics benchmarks, but we expect excellent performance and Apple should be very competitive with gaming.

Apple builds its processor using a modern 7nanometer semiconductor process and has 8.5B transistors, which puts it the same category as Huawei’s new Kirin 990 processor. We will see how Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8xx will compare later this year.

Apple explained some of the power optimizations it has done, such as having hundreds of voltage domains. These are very valid ways to optimize for power, and most chip makers use similar techniques. The extent to which Apple does it is hard to compare because of the lack of factual comparative data.

Finally, a great deal of communications is being done on the NPU (AI processor or Neural processor), but again, without comparative benchmarks, it’s not clear where Apple is on the map. It will be interesting to dig further into it, but the impact of higher performance AI isn’t as easy to perceive as faster graphics.

Battery

Apple says that all new iPhones will get longer battery life, but hasn’t communicated on the actual battery capacity during the keynote, so power-efficiency might be at the root of the extended endurance.

The most concrete battery-related improvement is that Apple will join the rest of the industry and ship a “fast charger” in the box. We criticized that decision in our iPhone Xs Review and are glad to see Apple shipping with a faster charger in o the box.

iPhone Xs didn’t have one and was the slowest-charging high-end phone we tested. It was 5X slower to charge than the Huawei P30 Pro and 2.5X slower than Samsung Galaxy S phones. With an 18W charger definitely won’t beat Huawei (40W) but may almost catch up to Samsung.

Conclusion

Apple’s new offering is a decent refresh which may entice iPhone users with 3-4 years old iPhones to finally upgrade, although the iPhone 11 (non-Pro) is definitely a better deal and offers much higher value for your money.

If Money is not a concern, and coming from an iPhone Xs the Ultrawide camera is likely to be the most significant upgrade in everyday life since the zoom will probably perform similarly. Apple has tried to frame the extra battery life as a possible incentive, and if we’re talking about 4-5 hours, it is possible.

But when it comes to battery life, only real-world tests can provide an answer, so stay tuned for the independent reviews.

This is why we have to say that we are pretty excited when Apple announced its successor in the form of the iPhone 11. This is because Apple has made some pretty decent improvements to the handset that combine it with its relatively affordable price, makes it a good value-for-money handset.

The iPhone 11 will be powered by Apple’s very own A13 Bionic chipset. It will continue to sport the same display size as before and will also continue to use LCD instead of OLED, but if you don’t think you’ll be able to tell the difference, then this isn’t a big deal.

One of the biggest improvements the iPhone 11 has over its predecessor is in its camera department, where Apple has upgraded its single-camera system to a dual camera system. This means that in the past, the iPhone XR had to largely rely on software to achieve similar effects as the iPhone XS and XS Max, but now it won’t have to.

It will feature a 12MP wide-angle camera with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization. It will also be accompanied by another 12MP ultra-wide camera that in the demo, Apple showed that it was capable of taking some truly impressive landscape photos as well as some portrait photos with unique perspectives.

Apple is also boasting how the phone’s camera will offer semantic rendering that can intelligently detect subjects and lights them up better for more clarity and details. It also appears that Apple wants to take on Google with their own Night Mode. The front-facing camera has also been upgraded to a 12MP sensor and where it will also support 4K video recording and slow-mo video.

Other features coming to the iPhone 11 include new color options, a glass and aluminum design where the front and back of the phone has been covered in glass. It will also feature spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support. Apple is also boasting improvements in battery life where it will last an additional hour over the iPhone XR.

As for pricing, here’s where it gets really interesting. The iPhone XR was priced at $749 and it was expected that the iPhone 11 would be priced the same as well. However, Apple actually dropped the price where the iPhone 11 will be available starting from $699, shaving $50 off the price tag.

September 10th 2019, 2:33 pm

Last year’s Apple Watch Series 4 represented a somewhat big change in the Apple Watch lineup. It came with a slightly modified design where it offered a larger display. If you were hoping for design changes for the Apple Watch this year, you might be disappointed, but it doesn’t mean that the Apple Watch Series 5 isn’t a substantial update.

According to Apple’s announcement, they have (finally) brought an always-on display to the watch. For those unfamiliar with the Apple Watch, in the past, the Apple Watch’s display would automatically turn itself off when the user’s wrist was lowered. This meant that if you wanted to see the display, you’d have to raise your wrist, but with an always-on display, Apple has done away with that need.

Apple claims that the new Apple Watch Series 5 will use an LTPO display that can refresh dynamically, where it can go up to a 60Hz refresh rate or as low as 1Hz. This is said to help with power efficiency. Speaking of efficiency, Apple is boasting that the Series 5 and its always-on display will still be able to manage an 18-hour battery life, same as its predecessor.

We would have preferred a longer battery life but we suppose at least it didn’t go down. There will be a bunch of new watch faces designed specifically for the new always-on display. There are also some new UI changes that have also been optimized for the new display. In addition to the hardware changes, Apple has also introduced a new compass app, an app which would have seemed like an obvious feature from the get-go, but we suppose better late than never.

As per earlier rumors, it has been confirmed that the Apple Watch Series 5 will come in new titanium and ceramic cases in addition to the current aluminum and stainless steel models. The Apple Watch with GPS will be priced starting at $399, while the version with cellular will retail for $499. They are available for pre-order starting today and will be available in-store come 20th September.

September 10th 2019, 2:03 pm

Apple Arcade was initially announced in the earlier part of the year. However, Apple declined to mention when the service will be launched or how much it might cost, but today at Apple’s iPhone event, those details have since been officially confirmed.

Gamers who are looking forward to the service will be pleased to learn that Apple has confirmed that Apple Arcade will be launching on the 19th of September, which is next week. The company has also revealed its pricing where it will cost customers $4.99 a month, although there will be a free 1-month trial before customers commit themselves to the subscription.

In case you’re learning about this for the first time, Apple Arcade is a game subscription service where for $4.99 a month, they will be able to access a catalogue of premium games. These games will not come with ads or in-game purchases and during Apple’s event, they brought on stage a couple of big name developers such as Konami and Capcom who will be launching games on the platform.

Apple claims that Apple Arcade will be launching in over a hundred markets so there is a good chance that you should be able to access it come September 19th, and that they will be adding to its catalogue of games over time.

September 10th 2019, 1:51 pm

According to Apple, one of the company’s most popular iPads is the 9.7-inch model. It’s actually not that surprising when you consider that Apple had previously launched an updated 9.7-inch model that was considerably cheaper and acted as an entry-level device for those looking to dip their toes in the iPad waters.

However, it seems that Apple has decided to update its 9.7-inch iPad where they have given it an upgrade. Instead of the 9.7-inch display, Apple has upgraded it where it will come sport a 10.2-inch Retina display. In terms of specs, if you’re looking for a powerhouse, note that it will not be as powerful as the iPad Pro.

This is because Apple will be giving this iPad the A10 Fusion chipset which was originally launched in 2016 on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. However, it should still be powerful enough for you to get the job done, but it’s something to take note of. It will also come with the Smart Connector feature which means that it will be usable with the Smart Keyboard accessory.

It will also run on iPadOS which is a forked version of iOS optimized for the iPad. There is also support for the Apple Pencil and as Apple had announced, customers who purchase new Apple hardware will be given a year’s subscription to the Apple TV+ streaming service for free. The new seventh-gen iPad will be priced starting at $329 and is available for pre-order where it is expected to begin shipping towards the end of the month.

September 10th 2019, 1:51 pm

According to the rumors, Apple apparently planned to launch three AirPods models this year. During the early part of the year, Apple launched the AirPods 2, but apparently there are plans to launch two more in the later part of the year. This is according to notable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo claims that one model will be an iterative update to AirPods while the other is rumored to be a bigger update with a brand new design, water-resistance, and active noise-cancelling. Now according to a report from DigiTimes, Apple’s next-gen AirPods are said to be planned for production as early as October.

At this point it is unclear as to which model this could be, but there is a good chance that this could be the iterative update model. This is because according to a Bloomberg report, the AirPods with noise-cancellation and a new design will probably only arrive in 2020. We’re not sure why Apple would launch an updated AirPods this year, especially since the AirPods 2 was launched about half a year ago.

Take this report with a grain of salt for now, especially with DigiTimes’ track record when it comes to Apple-related rumors. In the meantime, Huawei has actually beaten Apple to the punch when it comes to noise-cancelling earbuds with the FreeBuds 3 that was launched at IFA 2019 last week.

September 10th 2019, 1:20 pm

Thanks to the invention of cloud storage, being able to access your files anywhere and anytime is no longer an issue. However, sometimes there are certain files that are either too big or too private where you’d rather not keep it in the cloud and where you might prefer keeping it on your computer.

The problem with this setup is that if you’re out and you need to access it, you’re kind of in a pickle. This is where remote access software can come in handy, where you’ll be able to remotely access your computer from either another computer, your smartphone, or tablet, as long as it is connected to the internet and turned on.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, then read on to see how you can setup your computer for remote access.

There are plenty of remote access software available in the market today, but for this guide, we will be using Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop. This is because unlike some other remote access software, Chrome Remote Desktop is both free to use and is also compatible with both Windows and macOS, and its app is also available for both iOS and Android devices.

How To Download Chrome Remote Desktop For Your Computer

To begin setting up the process of remote access, you will need to download Chrome Remote Desktop onto your computer and your smartphone.

September 10th 2019, 11:44 am

There are monitors that have been designed specifically for gaming, and as such, they do come with certain features that a regular monitor might not, such as NVIDIA’s G-Sync graphics technology. However, it seems that LG and NVIDIA will be expanding the availability of the G-Sync technology not just to monitors, but to TVs as well.

In an announcement by LG, the company has revealed their plans to bring G-Sync to its 2019 OLED TVs. This means that gamers who tend to game on their TVs or want to use their TVs as a gaming display will be able to benefit from G-Sync as well. For those who are unfamiliar with NVIDIA’s G-Sync tech, it is where it synchronizes your display’s refresh rates to that of your computer’s GPU.

This means that both your display and GPU will share the same refresh rate which will prevent issues like screen tearing and also help minimize stutter and input lag. According to Sam Kim, senior vice president of the TV product planning division of Home Entertainment at LG, “With NVIDIA G-SYNC adoption, we are showing that OLED TVs have the support and backing of the world’s top gaming hardware brand to make their products look their best.”

The feature is expected to arrive as a firmware update in the following weeks, so if you already own one of the company’s 2019 OLED TVs, then this is something to look forward to.

September 10th 2019, 8:00 am

According to a report from a couple of weeks ago, it was suggested that Capcom might have a new Resident Evil game in the works. The company teased the upcoming game on a website titled “Project Resistance”, in which based on the logo, it left little to the imagination that it is somehow related to the Resident Evil franchise, although how exactly is unclear.

More recently, Capcom has released a new teaser trailer for the upcoming game where it drops some hints as to what we might be able to expect from it. The trailer isn’t particularly long but it does show a group of people banding together to fight against monsters, suggesting that we could be looking at some kind of multiplayer version of Resident Evil.

That and the fact that Capcom’s description of the trailer mentions that it will be a “brand-new team-based survival horror experience” more or less confirms it. Project Resistance is expected to be shown off at Capcom’s booth at the Tokyo Game Show later this week, where hopefully we’ll have more details about the game including when it might be launched. Until then, if you have a minute or so to spare, you can check out the trailer above.

September 10th 2019, 8:00 am

As some of you might know, Xiaomi makes a lot of different products and not smartphones. For example, the company also makes its own robot vacuum cleaner that we suppose could be seen as a much cheaper version of other robot vacuum cleaners in the market. In fact, it might even have a slight added advantage because it can be modified if you are willing to put in the effort.

That’s what a guy by the name of Eddie Zhang did, when he managed to get Spotify up and running on his Xiaomi vacuum cleaner. Now, obviously judging by the video demonstration above, it’s not exactly what one would call audiophile quality, but it does seem like a fun thing to do where it could at least let you know when the vacuum cleaner is making its rounds.

How Zhang did it was by using a modified open-source Spotify client called Raspotify. He then installed it on Raspbian, a Debian-based OS for Raspberry Pi, which he then managed to get music up and running through the vacuum cleaner. The process to get it up and running isn’t exactly a walk in the park, but if you are interested, Zhang has published a guide on his website where you can check it out and try for yourself if you’re so inclined.

September 10th 2019, 8:00 am

The reason some people set their Instagram accounts to private is because they don’t want any random stranger to view their posts. The only way you can view a private account is if the owner grants you access to it, or at least that’s how it was supposed to be. According to a recent discovery by BuzzFeed News, it turns out your private Instagram posts might not be so private after all.

According to their findings, it seems that by browsing an Instagram profile on the web and inspecting the website’s source code, you can actually find the URL of the image that is on the account, from which you can then share it with others. This means that if you are following the private account, you can find the source code and link that image or video to others who can then see it, even if they aren’t following that account.

When BuzzFeed News reached out to Facebook (who owns Instagram), the company seemed to suggest that this wasn’t really a bug and hinted that there was really not much they could do about it. In a statement made by a Facebook spokesperson, “The behavior described here is the same as taking a screenshot of a friend’s photo on Facebook and Instagram and sharing it with other people. It doesn’t give people access to a person’s private account.”

We suppose they do have a point, but it’s something to take note of if you do have a private account.

September 10th 2019, 8:00 am

There is no doubt that Apple wants users to use its iMessage messaging platform. It is a pretty decent default messaging platform that iOS users can use with each other, and with every iOS update, Apple introduces new features to it. However, one feature that seems to be lacking is message scheduling.

As its name implies, this would allow users to schedule messages to be sent at a later date instead of having it buried below newer messages. So if you need to send a reminder, this will help you do that. In a post on Reddit, u/Jmaster_888 shared an email that he allegedly received from Apple’s Craig Federighi on when the feature might arrive.

According to the Apple exec, it seems that it won’t be coming anytime soon, but they are not closing the door on it just yet. He replied by saying that this is something Apple has considered and is still considering, and he also laid out some of the complexity involved in creating such a feature, suggesting that it might not arrive anytime soon, if at all.

For example, he lays out some issues like how would scheduling messages work with unsent messages, or how to support deleting and editing pending messages, or how do you send a message when you have outgoing messages pending, and so on. That being said, if message scheduling is something that is important to you, then you might want to check out Telegram whose latest update brings the feature to the table.

September 10th 2019, 6:57 am

If you are planning on updating your Windows 10 computer to the latest version that is available, you might want to consider holding off just a bit. This is because according to a smattering of user reports, it appears that for whatever reason, there are some users who are claiming that following the update, their screens are turning orange.

According to one user, “When I start Windows, the login screen looks good, but when I put my credentials and the desktop is shown, it gradually starts turning red. The only element that remains with the correct colour is the mouse pointer.” Eventually users will end up with a screen with an orange tint, as you can see in the screenshot above.

Note that this doesn’t mean that the update has damaged your monitor. Instead, it seems that it could be that the update might have caused some havoc on older video card drivers. There are some users who are reporting that once they have updated their drivers, the issues goes away. Alternatively, there are some who are uninstalling the latest Windows update to resolve the issue.

This isn’t the only bug plaguing the KB4512941 update. Previously, it was reported that following the update, for some reason, Cortana started hogging up a lot of computer resources. Hopefully Microsoft is aware of these issues and are working on a fix for it.

September 10th 2019, 6:57 am

Tile’s trackers are pretty useful if you’re the type that forgets things or misplaces items often. This could be your bag, your keys, an umbrella, luggages, and so on. Through an accompanying smartphone app, you can help locate where your item is, but it seems that Tile wants to make it even easier.

In an announcement by the company, it seems like Tile is looking to eventually introduce support for Google Assistant. What this means is that with your voice, you’ll be able to ask a Google Assistant-enabled device, like a smart speaker, where your Tile is. It will also support Tile’s “direct ring” technology, where it will let Google Assistant connect directly to the Tile tracker and ring it, making it easier to locate.

According to CJ Prober, CEO of Tile, “This is big news for Tile customers. If you were to lose or misplace your wallet, remote, backpack – anything, Google will soon join your personal search party with a simple voice command.” The feature won’t be available just yet as they only plan to launch it later in the year.

In the meantime, there have been reports that Apple is expected to launch a Tile-like tracker of their own. One of the advantages that this rumored tracker will have is the use of ultra-wideband transmissions, in which it will make locating items more accurate.

September 10th 2019, 6:57 am

Google Docs is a great and free alternative to paid applications like Microsoft Word. Plus the fact that it is cloud-based means that you’ll always have a backup and you’ll always be able to access it anytime and anywhere you want. Sure, there might be some features not available compared, but it’s free and it gets the job done.

In fact, the good news for Google Doc owners is that it looks like Google will be introducing a new feature to the service in the form of a live word count. Previously, if you wanted to see how many words or characters your document had, you’d have to pull up the word count feature manually.

However, with this new feature, you won’t have to and you can see the live word counter in the bottom corner of your document that will constantly keep updating itself as your document progresses. According to Google, “We’ve heard that displaying this information is helpful to users working on docs that require minimum or maximum word count.”

Google has started to roll out the feature to users but if don’t see it yet, not to worry as it should eventually get around to you. The company notes that it should reach all Google Doc users in October.

September 10th 2019, 6:57 am

When it comes to to-do list apps, there are plenty of options available in the market, but it looks like Microsoft has decided to add yet another to the list. This is actually not Microsoft’s first attempt at a to-do list app for smartphones and tablets, although this seems to be an improvement over its previous launches.

For those who are unfamiliar, Microsoft acquired to-do list app Wunderlist back in 2015. According to Microsoft, their latest to-do app seems to be built off their acquisition, where they are taking notes on how Wunderlist was designed and what made it so great, and incorporated it into their own app.

According to Microsoft, “It’s been an exciting journey since we announced To Do. From shared-list task assignments, list groups, and file attachments, to the Mac app and even more product integrations, we took your feedback and created the app you wanted. We’re grateful for your input and the support of both our Wunderlist and To Do communities. We’ve come a long way since those first Wunderlist days and today is one more step in our evolution. Let’s take a closer look at To Do.”

The app will feature the ability for users to change backgrounds, switch on a dark mode, and basically help users plan their day. It will be available across multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web.

September 10th 2019, 6:57 am

If you’re looking to relive some arcade classics, then you’re in luck because the folks at SNK have announced their latest console in the form of the Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro. As you can see from the image above, this is a fight stick and if you’re wondering where’s the console, it’s actually built into the fight stick itself.

According to SNK, “In this mode, simply connect the stick via an HDMI cable into a TV and get ready to enjoy some of SNK’s finest fighting games. There are 20 pre-installed NEOGEO classics just waiting to be played. You can even rearrange the button layout in the options menu.”

If you’re wondering why it looks so familiar, it is because it is based on the Neo Geo CD controller from back in the day, except that now it’s slightly larger to make it into a fight stick. The company also claims that the console will support a “joystick mode” which is where you can plug it into a Neo Geo Mini console or a PC. Gamers will also be able to connect Neo Geo Mini Pad controllers or even a Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro if you want to play with another player.

The company has yet to officially announce when the console will launch or how much it will cost. It will also come with 20 classic Neo Geo titles.

September 10th 2019, 6:57 am

While fake news and misinformation isn’t new, in this day and age of social media, it can spread a lot faster than back in the day. This has created a problem and it looks like the BBC will be working with several tech giants to help fight this problem before it spreads too far and impacts too many people.

According to the BBC, they will be working with platforms such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook on this. This plan will include what they are calling an “early warning system”. This involves creating “a system so that organisations can alert each other rapidly when they discover disinformation that threatens human life or disrupts democracy during elections. The emphasis will be on moving quickly and collectively to undermine disinformation before it can take hold.”

According to BBC Director General Tony Hall, “Disinformation and so-called fake news is a threat to us all. At its worst, it can present a serious threat to democracy and even to people’s lives. This summit has shown a determination to take collective action to fight this problem and we have agreed some crucial steps towards this.”

This isn’t the first time that companies have come up with ways to combat fake news. For a while, Facebook was testing out various methods of identifying sources that are questionable, adding flags, and also warning users. We’re not sure if this new method will work so we’ll just have to wait and see.

September 9th 2019, 9:38 pm

If watching live video game streams is your kind of thing, then you might be interested to learn that Twitch is currently testing out its app for the Apple TV. What this means is that in the future, you’ll be able to stream Twitch videos on your Apple TV if you prefer watching it on a TV with a larger screen instead of your monitor.

The jump to the Apple TV is actually surprisingly late. This is because Twitch has been around for a while now, and has been available on mobile and PC, so we’re not sure what took them so long to bring it to the Apple TV. The app is currently in beta, where if you’re interested you can actually test it out using Apple’s TestFlight platform.

According to Twitch, “We don’t want to be too prescriptive so explore the app, watch streams, and try out different features. If you find a bug, the app crashes on you, or you encounter other issues send us your feedback.” Twitch is currently the leading streaming platform when it comes to video games.

Last year, the company boasted over 2.2 million broadcasters with 15 million daily active users. We’re not sure when the app will be coming out of beta, but like we said, you can test it out if you wish.

September 9th 2019, 9:38 pm

These days, our smartphone prices are getting more and more expensive to the point where mid-range handsets are starting to look like pretty good alternatives. This could be the reason why Apple’s iPhone XR is doing so well, because even though at a starting price of $749 isn’t exactly cheap, it is still several hundred dollars cheaper than the iPhone XS and XS Max models.

It is also not surprising to learn that the iPhone XR dominated smartphone shipments in the first half of 2019, where according to analysts at IHS Market, they found that for the first half of the year, the iPhone XR actually shipped 26.9 million units. The phone in second place is actually the Samsung Galaxy A10 which only managed half the iPhone XR at 13.4 million (although overall Samsung did end up shipping more than Apple).

As for the flagship iPhones, the iPhone XS Max only managed 9.6 million, placing it in ninth place. This is actually not the first time we’re hearing about the iPhone XR’s dominance. Previously, it was reported that the handset actually accounted for 39% of iPhone sales back in December 2018.

These new figures seem to confirm that it is doing much better than the flagship iPhones. Apple is expected to refresh the iPhone XR tomorrow where it could come with upgraded RAM and cameras.

September 9th 2019, 9:38 pm

Back in the day, TVs were basically displays to watch our shows with. While, they are still pretty much still the same, these days, TVs have improved on their features and functionality, where they can be used to stream content from the internet, use apps, go online, and so on. This is why it’s not surprising that a 5G-enabled TV is being developed by Samsung.

The company and Korean telco SK Telecom have announced a partnership in which both companies will be working together to develop an 8K 5G-capable TV. According to the carrier, “The two companies have also agreed to jointly evolve 5G-8K TV further to deliver a new user experience by working together in the areas including eSpace, SK Telecom’s hyper-space platform for replicating the real world in cyberspace, and 5G Sero TV, a 5G-based television that can be rotated both horizontally and vertically to provide a smartphone-like UX for TV users.”

The company’s CTO Park Jin-hyo adds, “The 5G-8K TV is the culmination of ultra-low latency 5G networks combined with ultra-high definition TV technology. 5G technology will help make the world of hyper media a reality.” The concept of 5G being used as more than just internet for our phones isn’t new.

September 9th 2019, 8:35 pm

When Apple took Touch ID away from its iPhones in favor of Face ID, it seemed like the company was set to on sticking with it for the foreseeable future. However, in recent times, we’ve started to hear rumblings that Apple could actually be looking to bring back Touch ID to future iPhones.

Now according to a report from Express.co.uk, they interview Apple executive Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing, who hinted that Touch ID will not be going anywhere soon. He was quoted as saying, “Touch ID was the first mainstream biometric security system and customers loved it.”

He also added, “It changed the way that people secured their device, because at that time, even though it’s hard to imagine, many didn’t even have a passcode. It’s a solution that remains and we still use it on our iPads, iPod Touch and even the Macs – it’s a great system.” This seems to hint that Apple will be keeping the tech around for a while, although whether or not it’ll find its way into future iPhones again remains to be seen.

September 9th 2019, 8:35 pm

The idea behind prosthetics is that they let amputees live their lives more normally. For example, an amputee without a leg might find it hard to walk, but giving them a prosthetic will make their lives a bit easier. However, the downside to prosthetics is that it will never, ever feel like a real limb.

Amputees also experience phantom pain where it feels like pain coming from a part of the body that is no longer there. However, thanks to the work of researchers led by ETH Zurich, published in Nature Medicine, they have modified a prosthetic in which it comes with sensors and electrodes that will allow amputees to “feel” their feet and knees.

The prosthetic they use is the Ossur prosthetic leg which already comes with a microprocessor and an angle sensor. They then modified the insole with seven sensors in the foot which are used to transmit signals in real-life. All that information will be sent to an implant based in the patient’s tibial nerve which allows the brain to interpret those signals as feedback.

This means that it will make the wearer think that they are feeling sensations in their knee and feet, which is said to help increase the wearer’s confidence when using the prosthetic and in turn makes it a less strenuous process compared to traditional prosthetics. This isn’t available for purchase yet but the researchers are hoping that with additional research and testing, they’ll be able to bring it to the market in the future.

September 9th 2019, 8:35 pm

A bizarre video on Twitter revealed that the driver and passenger were both asleep in a Tesla car with Autopilot mode on. This story started trending when a netizen (Dakota Randall) uploaded the video in a tweet saying:

Some guy literally asleep at the wheel on the Mass Pike (great place for it).

Dakota spotted this at Newton Corner, Massachusetts (United States) just when he thought he was passing by a “regular” Tesla car. Obviously, that was not the case. And, he recorded a video where the Tesla driver can be seen asleep with the fellow passenger.

He also told NBC10 Boston that he tried to wake them up by honking – but that ‘clearly’ did not work. He also added:

“I kind of looked over and saw what I thought was somebody asleep at the wheel and I was like that can’t be right, so I did a double-take, looked over and sure enough this guy was just, head between his legs completely asleep,” Randall told NBC10 Boston.

While Teslas can be very good with the autopilot mode – but the company advises to have an attentive driver as well (as stated on their website). So, even though this is hilarious – it was a dangerous act.

September 9th 2019, 7:49 pm

We have observed multiple events where the customer’s credit card info gets leaked (hacked) or simply a victim of any online scam. If you are visiting trusted web services (and know how to identify a bad one), your credit card is probably safe.

But, how do you escape someone with a photographic memory so strong that he allegedly utilized it to remember credit card info of his customers?

According to SoraNews24, a Japanese clerk, 34-year old, Yusuke Taniguchi was recently arrested getting caught for unauthorized transactions by using the credit card info of customers that he supposedly memorized.

He was a part-time cashier at a mall in Koto City, Japan. Of course, part of his job was to swipe the credit cards of the customers – so that gave him the opportunity to memorize the information to order things online and later sell them off at a pawn shop.

It is not certain whether it was really a long-lasting eidetic memory in action or just memorizing the info (credit card number, expiry date, cvv code) to note it down immediately in a notebook by the time the transaction completed.

The theft was not detected unless he recently chose to purchase two expensive shoulder bags worth ~2500 USD in march (shipping to his own address) which flagged the suspicious activity.

So, even though you are “digitally” protected from online scams, prying eyes could still steal your credit card’s info. Make sure you keep the details of your credit card secure and try utilizing NFC payments (using Google Pay and similar services).

September 9th 2019, 4:02 pm

GPS sensors built into our smartphones is probably one of the best features ever. This allows our phones to be used together with mapping and navigational tools like Apple Maps. However, the downside is that this has allowed certain apps and services to start tracking our location, which we’re sure that some of you might be uncomfortable with.

Sometimes when you download an app and run it, the app might prompt you to enable Location Services. This means that the app, in theory, could use the GPS built into your phone to keep track of where you are. Some apps, such as Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Waze, obviously need to use your location to work, but sometimes, some apps don’t need it.

Thankfully, Apple has built into iOS some privacy features that will give you more control over how an app tracks you, so here’s what you need to know if you’d like apps to stop tracking you or to limit its tracking.

How To Stop iPhones App From Tracking You

Launch Settings

Go to Privacy > Location Services

If you want to disable Location Services entirely, you can tap the toggle to turn it off. However, the downside is that this could cause certain apps to stop working or provide inaccurate results.

If you prefer just managing certain apps, then just tap the individual apps listed below.

You will now be able to choose between:

Never allowing the app to access your location, which like we said, could potentially break an app’s functionality

Allowing the app to access your location while you use it, meaning that once you stop using it, it won’t be able to track you even if it is running in the background.

September 9th 2019, 1:31 pm

One of the features praised in iOS would be the virtual keyboard that the operating system uses. It is a good and simple keyboard that gets the job done. However, we imagine that there might be some users who might prefer using a more robust and feature-rich keyboard with their iOS devices.

If you’re looking on how to go about installing and using a third-party keyboard on iOS, then check out our guide below which will show you the steps to download and install and switch between various keyboards on your iPhone.

There are too many keyboards available for iOS today to list, so we’ll just mention a couple of the more popular ones. The steps involved to download and install them are all the same anyway, so it boils down to a matter of personal preference.

Gboard – This is Google’s keyboard app for iOS where users can perform quick searches inside of it, saving them time in the process. It also features swipe-style typing if that’s what you prefer.

SwiftKey – This Microsoft-owned keyboard has been a staple as far as third-party keyboard apps are concerned. It has been around for a very, very long time and was initially only available on Android. It supports bilingual typing which will allow users to type out sentences in multiple languages easily.

Grammarly – If you’re looking to type out a document or email and want to ensure it is grammatically correct, Grammarly’s keyboard for iOS will do just that where it will offer up suggestions as you type.

Fleksy – Similar to SwiftKey, Fleksy has been one of the mainstays in third-party keyboard apps. It features a very clean user interface so if you’re looking for a clutter-free typing experience, it might be worth checking out.

Downloading A Third-Party Keyboard For iPhone

Launch the App Store and look for the keyboard app that you want to download

Since keyboard apps are essentially apps, just follow the same process as you would a regular app

Once the app has been downloaded and installed on your iPhone, you’re ready to move onto the next step.

Installing A Third-Party Keyboard For iPhone

Launch Settings

Go to General > Keyboard > Keyboards

Tap Add New Keyboard…

Scroll down until you see the section marked “Third-Party Keyboards”

Tap on the keyboard you want to add

You will now be taken back to the previous menu which will list the keyboards installed on your phone

Tap the keyboard you just added

Tap Allow Full Access which will bring up the prompt

Tap Allow

Repeat this process for future or additional keyboards that you install and want to use

Alternatively, you can swipe to the left on the keyboard to remove it if you don’t want to use it anymore

Using A Third-Party Keyboard For iPhone

Once your keyboard has been successfully downloaded and installed and you’ve granted it full access, here’s how you can use it with your iPhone. You can actually have multiple keyboards installed at once and switch between them depending on your preferences.

Launch any app that will bring up the keyboard interface

Tap and hold the Globe icon located at the bottom right corner of the screen

September 9th 2019, 11:29 am

How the Tile tracker works is that it uses Bluetooth to connect and pair with the user’s smartphone, relying on it to locate items and to let users know when an item might be out of range of the smartphone. Now, we’ve heard Apple is working on a similar accessory, but it how does it differentiate from the Tile tracker?

According to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, he claims that Apple could one-up the competition and will rely on Ultra-wideband transmissions. This means that in terms of accuracy and distance, Apple’s tracking tags could be better than the Tile. While Bluetooth works, it is said to be slightly more rudimentary compared to what Apple has planned.

This is because Bluetooth largely relies on distance and given that objects can interfere, it does reduce its overall accuracy. Now, this isn’t to say that Tile’s trackers are bad or inferior, it’s just that Apple might have upped the ante by using different technology in its trackers. Apple is also expected to introduce some augmented reality-like features that will better help users locate their items.

There’s no word on when it will be launched, but as Apple’s iPhone event is taking place in the next couple of days, perhaps we’ll learn more about this new tracking accessory then.

September 8th 2019, 9:01 pm

They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, which is why despite Google’s products and services being largely free-to-use, in exchange, you are kind of turning over some of your personal data to the company. This data can then be used for marketing purposes, which is why seeing targeted ads is no longer particularly surprising.

However, it seems that Google could be going the extra step when it comes to tracking users, and this time without their knowledge. According to a report from the Financial Times (paywall), the Brave browser has accused Google of tracking users through hidden web pages, where they take the information that it has on the user and then uses it for advertisements.

This was initially discovered by Brave’s chief policy officer, Johnny Ryan, who discovered these secret web pages after he found his tracking data being traded on Google’s advertising exchange, Authorized Buyers. This information has since been sent to Irish data regulators for their investigation.

In response to the discovery, a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying, “We do not serve personalised ads or send bid requests to bidders without user consent.” We should note that Brave is a Google competitor in terms of browsers, so that’s something to take into consideration regarding whether or not they could have a personal interest in this.

September 8th 2019, 9:01 pm

The majority of credit cards are made from plastic, but there are some credit cards, usually reserved for those with higher annual incomes, are made from metal. However, with the launch of the Apple Card which is made from titanium and aluminum, Apple has finally brought a metal card to the masses.

This might have created a problem highlighted in the video above, where a YouTuber has managed to sharpen one edge of the Apple Card to the point where it is sharp enough to be used as a knife. This can be dangerous as it means that it can be hidden in a wallet and used as a weapon.

Also, the fact that the Apple Card is relatively easy to get and can be applied for by anyone, like we said, this could have created a problem. That being said, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a credit card being used as a knife. Previously, there have been some videos where other metal credit cards have been filed down to sport a sharp edge, so this isn’t a new thing.

As The Verge points out, there are plenty of credit card-sized knives already available in the market, so you don’t need to sand down your brand new Apple Card to do so. It is still a pretty cool, albeit dangerous, DIY project. If you have a few minutes to spare you can check it out in the video above.

September 8th 2019, 9:01 pm

In the past few months, we have been hearing rumors that Fujifilm could be working on a new camera in the form of the Fujifilm X-Pro3. The camera is expected to come with some redesign hardware features, such as a “unique” tilt screen. Now according to a new report from Fuji Rumors, it seems that the company could be making another design change that some might not be too happy about.

According to the report, apparently Fujifilm is expected to ditch the D-pad controls found on the back of the camera. It is unclear what this means for the camera and its controls, although there is still that tiny joystick which we guess could act as a replacement of sort, although like we said, we’re sure that there will be some who probably will miss it and won’t be too thrilled with this redesign.

Other rumored features aside from the tilt screen and the removal the D-pad include how it actually might not come with in-body image stabilization, despite us hearing rumors that it might. At the moment there is no official word on when the X-Pro3 will be launched. However, we have heard that an official launch could take place mid-October so we’ll have to wait and see, so take it with a grain of salt for now.

September 8th 2019, 7:31 pm

These days with cameras readily at our disposal in our smartphones, it makes it so easy for anyone to take a photo or video anytime, anywhere. This has unfortunately resulted in some accidents, where people try to take photos only to lose their phones instead. This was almost the case with one main at the PortAventura World theme park in Catalonia, Spain.

In a viral video that’s been making its rounds, it seems that one guy lost control of his iPhone X during a roller coaster ride going at 80mph. If we were in his shoes, we would be resigned to the likelihood that that was it for the iPhone, but it seems that it was his lucky day. This is because sitting at the back was a New Zealander on holiday by the name of Samuel Kempf, who spotted the falling iPhone and reached out to grab it.

He later returned the iPhone to its owner when the ride was over. Speaking to local news publication 1 NEWS, Kempf was quoted as saying, “Long story short I caught it. This roller coaster is moving at over 130kms and was once Europe’s tallest and fastest coaster. He was super surprised and happy at the same time. He gave me a big hug and said he was going to buy the on-ride video for me.”

It is a pretty impressive catch, although the next time you do ride a roller coaster, either consider not whipping out your smartphone or maybe consider gripping it a lot tighter.

September 8th 2019, 7:31 pm

Just like how older storage mediums like the floppy disk have more or less gone the way of the dinosaur, you would assume that would be the case for music formats as well. However, it turns out that isn’t the case because according to the RIAA’s mid-2019 report, it looks like for the first time since 1986, vinyl records are poised to potentially outsell CDs.

The report claims that vinyls have managed to generate $224.1 million in revenue in the first half of 2019, versus CDs which generated $247.9 million. Sure, CD sales are still in the lead, but given that CD sales haven’t really moved that much, this trend has led some to believe that vinyls could potentially overtake them.

There are some audiophiles who argue that the sound quality from vinyl sounds more authentic compared to CDs and digital music. This is all personal preference, of course, but it’s starting to look like more and more people are getting into it.

September 8th 2019, 7:31 pm

The latest iteration of Android is finally here. Android 10 marks the beginning of a new naming tradition (just like iOS) with numbers. This time Android 10 focuses on three important themes – supporting bleeding edge technologies (like foldable smartphones & 5G Network), protecting users’ privacy, and enhancing the digital wellbeing controls.

In this article, let us take a look at what’s new in Android 10.

Best Android 10 Features

There’s a lot of changes under the hood and some noticeable changes. Do note that the features listed below are in no particular order of ranking. So, without going into all the nitty gritty details, let us check out the key features on Android 10 that you should know about.

1. Ready for Bleeding edge Technologies

Android 10 is perfectly capable of powering up a foldable smartphone without any issues. In addition to the support for foldables, Android 10 adds platform support for 5G. So, you can expect the faster speeds and lower latencies on 5G networks.

2. Live Captions

While you are watching a video or listening to an audio file (a voice message) or even podcasts, with Android 10, you can have captions for the content in real-time. This will help you understand the video/audio quickly.

However, the Live caption feature will be available for Pixel devices to start with. Eventually, other partner devices are expected to support it.

3. Smart Reply in Notifications

Smart Reply is a pretty useful feature available in Gmail app when you respond to an email. It is basically an auto-generated suggestion for a reply using machine learning (ML). Technically, it was already introduced with Android 9 Pie. However, in Android 10, it utilizes on-device ML to suggest smart replies to any message in the notifications, keeping users’ privacy in mind. This applies to all 3rd party applications as well. Also, if the dev team of the app wants to generate their own set of custom replies, that can be done too.

4. Dark theme

We have all been waiting for a native system-wide dark mode. And, with Android 10, you can now enable the dark theme. It will be applied to all the applications/system apps. However, the 3rd party apps can still have their own implementation of a custom dark mode, if needed.

5. Immersive Gesture Navigation

Gesture navigation was already introduced with Android P. But, with Android 10, it tries to take the advantage of the full screen by eliminating the notification bar and giving an immersive experience when navigating using gestures.

Personally, I’m still a fan of traditional soft keys – but if you want a full screen immersive experience while navigating through apps, Android 10 gives you the option to do so.

6. More control over location data

With Android 10, you will have more control over how the applications use/access your location data. You can choose to grant access to location data only while using the app or allow it to access your location data all the time.

You also have the option to deny access to your location data when the request pops up.

7. Faster Updates

Starting with Android 10, you will receive important security and privacy fixes via Google Play. This will ensure that more Android devices remain secure no matter what device you have.

8. Greater control of notifications

When you tap and hold a notification, you will be able to mark it as “Silent” – so that you still get notifications from that particular app but there will be no alert sound.

9. Other Significant Changes

In addition to all the new features, you will observe a lot of under-the-hood improvements like storage encryption by default for devices with Android 10, new audio and video codecs, improved Wi-Fi performance, and performance optimizations.

Wrapping Up

Even though the Android 10 upgrade is a big deal, visually it remains the same. The UI may have some minor improvements/tweaks but nothing major – except for the full screen gesture navigation mode. The idea to have important system updates via Google Play steals the show for me.

What do you think about Android 10? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

September 8th 2019, 12:44 pm

IFA is officially going on until Sept 11, but if you haven’t had time to follow all the IFA news, our Best of IFA 2019 is what we want you to take away from this show. These are the products that caught our attention for their quality, novelty, usefulness, or daringness.

We may add a couple more winners next, week, but here they are, in chronological order of appearance on Ubergizmo:

Acer Predator Thronos Gaming Chair

The 2019 edition of the Thronos gaming chair is even more outrageous than last years! The new design looks lighter and more aggressive and is entirely adjustable to fit the morphology of the user, who might want to stay in this fantastic Gaming rig, especially since there’s a massage feature now.

Samsung Galaxy A90 5G

5G is an amazing new technology, but the reality is that flagship phones that support 5G tend to cost between $1000-$1300, so Samsung has decided to up the ante in the ~$750 price range by offering the Galaxy A90 5G. It looks sleek and comes with a 3-cameras set up in the back.

TCL TS9030 RAY.DANZ Sound Bar

Dolby Atmos soundbars are not a rarity, but TCL is using its Ray-Danz sound propagation technique that allows it to render 3D audio (using Dolby Atmos), in a larger soundstage (area in front of the TV). It is 42 inches wide, but when it comes to speakers, larger can be better.

ASUS’ ProArt StudioBook One

Laptop users working in the arts/creative industry are often frustrated by the performance gap between their desktop and laptops (not even mentioning the display size gap). It’s so true that a whole “Creative” laptop segment has appeared in recent years, and the ASUS ProArt StudioBook One is perhaps today’s best representative, thanks to its powerful Core i9 processor and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 GPU.

Philips SmartSleep Snoring Relief Band

Snoring is a surprisingly common problem, and potential solutions are often expensive, inconvenient and unreliable. The Snoring Relief Band became a clinically-proven product at IFA 2019. Most people snore in a specific sleeping position, so the band is smart enough to sense and vibrate if the user sleeps in the “wrong” position, prompting him or her to change to a non-snoring one. People often snore while sleeping on their backs.

Lenovo Yoga C940

There are laptops that you must use, and those you want to use. The Lenovo Yoga C940 is the latter, thanks to its excellent design and build quality. Equipped and a great display and a powerful soundbar, it provides a fantastic entertainment experience. When it’s time to work, it is powerful to take on any task. Creative users can opt for the 15” version which has a discrete NVIDIA GPU.

Motorola One Zoom

Motorola is a legendary brand which was mostly known for great affordable phones. The Motorola One Zoom is a significant escalation in the potential camera performance of the brand, and we can’t wait to put it to the test. Design-wise, Motorola has done a great job with an innovative back-cover glass treatment and a beautiful camera module design. Not everyone can pull it off.

LG G8x Dual Screen

You must recognize how down-to-earth LG is sometimes. The company may take some flack for not having a foldable OLED screen, but the LG G8x dual-screen maybe the only folding phone that the masses can afford in the short term. The durability of the stand-alone phone and dual-screen clamshell is at least as other LG phones. If you want 5G, the LG V50 5G dual screen is also available.

Garmin Venu Smartwatch

In the world of sports, Garmin is widely recognized as being the best smart devices provider. The company has products tailored for particular activities that more generalist smartwatches have not been able to displace. The Garmin Venu’s 5-days battery life, OLED display and features like respiration tracking, hydration tracking and many more should give competitors a run for their money.

HiSilicon Kirin 990 Processor

The smartphone processor war never ends, and the freshly announced Kirin 990 and Kirin 990 5G give HiSilicon/Huawei some momentum and performance lead going into the holiday season. More importantly, the 5G version has an embedded 5G modem, and we expect it to make 5G possible to democratize 5G in 2020.

Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Router

We were delighted to see Netgear announce the Wi-Fi 6 version of their award-winning Orbi product. The benefits from Wi-Fi 5 are clear cut: it is possible to handle more devices and more simultaneous streams at much higher speeds. With 8K TVs coming and the average number of WiFi devices in homes increasing dramatically, mesh networking is our recommended way to tackle Wi-Fi.

Sandisk iXPAND Wireless Charger + Backup System

Despite decades of recommendations by computer experts, nearly half of the user base never back up its data, mostly because they don’t like the setup or workflow to do it (aka “lazy”). However, everybody charges their phones once a day! Sandisk plugs onto this daily routine and proposes that backups be triggered at that time with the iXPAND storage+charging device, and it’s a bold idea that we like. Stay safe (with your data)!

Honor Vision smart TV

Honor Vision is a daring move from Honor/Huawei. It is the first smart TV from the company and comes with the new HarmonyOS, a multi-platform operating system that may become a central point in Huawei’s future. As far as Honor Vision is concerned, it is a Smart TV that offers tighter integration with phones than anything before it. If only it could work with non-Huawei phones as well…

Snips: Voice Control For Appliances

Voice recognition for smart appliances has historically been done in the cloud for practical reasons. However, with numerous user-privacy scandals, an edge-computing solution is a better option, privacy-wise. Snipsprovides the technological solution to do just that and can do it in 70 languages. Despite being a startup, it has many clients that are large corporations.

September 7th 2019, 7:58 pm

Honor demonstrated its Honor Vision Smart TV at IFA 2019, which is a first for two reasons. First, it’s Honor/Huawei first television, and secondly, it is the first device to use HarmonyOS (codenamed HongMeng), Huawei’s proprietary cross-device operating system that may become an Android alternative someday, although it’s not the preferred option.

There are two versions of the TV, namely Honor Vision and Honor Vision Pro. We had a peek at the hardware and technology behind it when we visited (one of) Huawei’s campus in Shenzhen (China) last month. We played with the demo unit, and more importantly, we could ask questions to various experts who worked on the project.

Only available in China, for now, Honor Vision is built around a 55” UHD/4K display the Honor Vision is meant to be much more than a TV, and was thought as being a home hub and a communications device as well. Yes, it’s not the first time that a TV has such ambitions, but more on that later.

HD video calls over WIFI (TV) and LTE (phone)

Honor Vision: ~$550, 16GB storage, 2GB RAM, 4 speakers

Honor Vision Pro: ~$650, 32GB storage, 2GB RAM, 6 speakers

The specifications of the Honor Vision aren’t super-impressive by phones standard, but it is meant to stream content, and even games, rather than executing them with its own CPU.

Honor Vision Hands-On At Huawei HQ, Shenzhen

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HD video call over WIFI (TV) and LTE (phone)

It is more than powerful enough to run casual games obviously and to handle 4K video and FHD video-conferencing if the network allows. Finally, the proprietary processor developed for this platform has an NPU (AI processor) which helps with machine-learning tasks such as facial recognition which could be essential to recognize different users in a household.

Industrial Design and Display

The design of the TV is classic and clean. It is not meant to compete with high-end televisions that cost many times the price. The image quality is very decent for the price (87% NTSC colors, 400 NITs), but not exceptional in absolute terms.

The “Pro” version has a retractable camera, which pops in and out when needed. We like the idea because privacy has been a big concern, and in the past, some TV webcam from other manufacturers have proven to be hackable, so at least, there’s a physical element that prevents video hacks.

There’s an array of six microphones to pick up the sound from all around the TV, instead of assuming that you’re right in front of it like many PC webcam microphones do. It’s great for chatting while moving into the room, but potentially also for voice commands as the user’s voice can be picked up from 5 yards away.

There are four to six 10-Watt speakers depending on which model you choose to buy, and the sound was plenty powerful for a regular-sized living room in Asia. The sound demonstration (movie trailers) was nice, but we would need to test this in a different environment to cast a final judgment. So far, it sounds good.

User Experience

In TV mode, the Honor Vision seems and behaves very much like other smart TVs. There’s a remote control, but can, of course, use your Huawei/Honor phone via Honor Magic Link a multi-device protocol and associated app that lets you control the TV and transfer data to the TV (and more appliances).

Typical use cases include cloning your phone’s screen to the TV, showing photos and video and casting games from the phone to the TV to play on a big screen. To cast something, you pair the phone with the TV via proximity (~1-inch) using NFC. In my opinion, proximity pairing is often faster and more practical than listing all potential device and requiring a password.

Honor Vision also has a message board for family members to send quick thoughts, reminders, or just about any message from Huawei Share.

Conclusion

Overall, the user experience seemed more polished, integrated, than many other smart TVs we’ve seen, and that’s because Huawei can exert a tight control and coordination on hardware, software, and wireless protocols.

On the other hand, Honor Magic Link or Huawei share are requirements that will limit the customer base to Huawei phone customers. Granted, it’s not a problem in China since Huawei/Honor holds such a significant market share, but it could prove to be challenging abroad where the Huawei eco-system could either pull or repel, potential customers.

Yet, this is one of the most exciting developments at IFA 2019 and in the Smart Home market in general, with the introduction of a new operating system and a unique TV-phone user experience that may give a boost to the whole genre, thanks to competitive forces.

September 7th 2019, 4:58 pm

If you use your smartphone heavily throughout the day, sometimes the battery indicator icon might not be enough to show you how much battery you’ve got left. After all, it is a tiny icon and it’s hard to tell if you’ve got 50% left or is it more like 45%, and like we said, if you’re a heavy user, that 5% can sometimes make a difference.

So how do you check how much percentage of battery you have left? If you’re looking to micromanage your battery life or maybe want to see if apps are draining battery more than they should, here’s how you can check it.

iPhone X, XR, XS, XS Max

With Apple choosing to put a notch into the screens of its newer iPhones, it also means that the status bar on the iPhone has less space to display information. One of the sacrifices that Apple had to make was to do away with the battery percentage on the status bar, but don’t worry, you can still check it fairly easily.

Tap and pull down from the top right corner of the screen

This will bring up Control Center

Look at the top right corner and you will see the battery percentage displayed

While this is admittedly more troublesome than having it displayed all the time, the upside is that you can access this anytime even in apps that go full screen.

All Other iPhone Models

If you own an iPhone model that isn’t listed above, then the method to check battery percentage will be different. It will be as easy to turn on and the best part is, it will be perpetually displayed (except for apps that run in full screen), so you’ll be able to see it all the time.

Go to Settings

Go to Battery

Turn on Battery Percentage (the toggle should be green)

Once this is done, you’re all set and good to go! Note that when you have enabled low-power mode, the battery percentage will be turned on by default.

September 7th 2019, 12:07 pm

Using the same password for all your online accounts is probably the worst idea ever. This is because in the event your password is leaked, hackers will be able to access all your online accounts and services.

At the same time, we understand that using different passwords for different websites can be confusing and hard to remember, but the good news is that this is where password managers can come in handy, and here’s how you can take advantage of these applications to help better protect your online accounts.

How To Use A Password Manager

In this guide, we will be using LastPass as our password manager of choice. LastPass is a free-to-use password manager, but at the same time there is a paid subscription version of the software that will give you more features. However, if all you need is a tool to remember your passwords and organize your online accounts, the free version is more than enough to get the job done. You can download LastPass from its website here.

Generating A Strong Password

Choosing a strong password is one of the first things you can do to ensure your accounts are better protected (you can check out our guide here). However, if you have a hard time trying to decide on a strong password, one of the features of LastPass is the ability to generate passwords on your behalf.

Click the LastPass extension icon

Select Generate Secure Password

A password will be generated automatically, but you can customize it further or generate another one

Tap the refresh icon to generate a new password.

Choose the password length. Some websites have a minimum length, but generally speaking, the longer the better.

You can also opt to include special characters. Some websites might not allow this, but you should include them for those that do as this makes it harder for your password to be guessed.

You can also have the option of making your password pronounceable, which for some might make it easier to remember.

Once you’re satisfied with the password, click Copy Password and it will be saved to your clipboard. You can then paste this password into the password field while you’re signing up for a new account or while changing the password of an existing account.

Saving A Website

One of the benefits of a password manager is that it can memorize the username and password of a website you use, and it can even autofill it when you visit the website. This is similar to features built into browsers such as Chrome.

Open LastPass and click the “+” button at the bottom right corner of the screen

Choose Password

Enter the URL of the website that you’re saving the password for

Pick a name for this entry

Enter the login username and password for the website

If you want to autologin to the website, select Advanced Options

Once you’re done, click Save

Logging Into A Website

Now that you’ve saved a website into LastPass, how do you use it? If you’ve chosen Autologin, this means that when you reach the login page of a website, it will be automatically filled and submitted so there is almost no action on your end. However, if you did not select Autologin, here’s how you log into a website using LastPass.

Go to the website that you’re trying to login into and have saved the login information with LastPass

Go to the login page and in the text fields, click the LastPass icon

Click the website you’re trying to log into

It should then fill out the form with your username and password

Click Sign In and you’re all good to go

Conclusion

Password managers are incredibly useful tools for juggling all your online accounts and also to generate safe and strong passwords. Of course, we imagine that some of you might not feel comfortable giving all that information to another company, but that’s the trade-off. LastPass is not the only password manager around as there are several others to choose from, such as 1Password and Dashlane.

September 7th 2019, 11:36 am

While flagship phones pack a ton of amazing and bleeding edge features, they also come with ridiculous price tags attached to them. Given how far we’ve advanced, mid-ranged phones these days actually do a pretty good job for what they are, and if you are after such a device, HMD Global might have something for you.

The company has recently announced two new Nokia-branded mid-ranged phones. This includes the Nokia 7.2 and the Nokia 6.2. With the Nokia 7.2, HMD Global has opted to give it the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset where it will be accompanied by 4/6GB of RAM and 64/128GB of storage. It also comes with a 6.3-inch LCD screen with a FHD+ resolution and it is also HDR10 enabled.

The Nokia 6.2 is similar to hardware specs as the Nokia 7.2 with the same display, although on the chipset front the handset will be powered by the Snapdragon 636. It will also come with less RAM at 3GB, and also smaller storage at 32GB, although there are options for a 4GB RAM + 64GB storage version.

Both handsets, despite them being mid-rangers, will come with triple camera setups. The Nokia 7.2 will use a 48MP + 8MP + 5MP camera combo, with a 20MP front-facing shooter, while the Nokia 6.2 will feature a 16MP + 8MP + 5MP shooter combo, with an 8MP front-facing camera. Pricewise, the Nokia 7.2 will be available towards the end of the month where it will be priced starting at €300, while the Nokia 6.2 will launch in October and is priced starting at €200.

September 6th 2019, 11:13 pm

In recent years, we’re starting to see the rise in smart displays. These are essentially smart speakers with displays built into them, where the added display means that users will be able to watch videos, make video calls, and also connect with other smart devices like cameras to see who’s at the door.

Lenovo has actually been on a roll creating these devices like the Smart Display from 2018 and the smaller Smart Clock that was launched this year. Now it looks like the company is back with yet another smart display, this time dubbed the Smart Display 7. As its name implies, this device will come with a slightly smaller 7-inch display compared to its larger 8-inch and 10-inch siblings, so if you wanted something more compact, this could be it.

It also sports a slightly different design compared to the other models, where in this case, Lenovo has opted to put the speakers below the display instead of to the side, which means that the audio should be directly fully at the user. Other than that, it is essentially the same device with support for Google Assistant along with a built-in camera.

Given that this is smaller compared to the 8-inch and 10-inch models, it also means that it will be cheaper. It will be priced at $130 and is expected to be available for purchase this coming October.

September 6th 2019, 10:23 pm

Tablets are incredibly useful devices where thanks to their larger screen and sometimes larger battery, they make for better entertainment companions compared to our smartphones. If you are in the market for a new tablet, then Lenovo might have a couple of new tablets for you in the form of the Smart Tab 10 and the Smart Tab M8.

Starting with the Smart Tab 10, one of the key features of this tablet is its design. This is because the tablet has been designed to feature a kickstand on the back of it. This allows users to prop the tablet up when they want to watch it on a surface like a table. There is even a hole in the kickstand where if you wanted to, you could even hang it off a hook on the wall.

As for its specs, we’re looking at the use of the Qualcomm 439 processor, 3-4GB of RAM, 32-64GB of storage, and a 10.1-inch 1920×1200 display. It will be retailing for $250 when it is released later this month.

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As for the Smart Tab M8, this will be the cheaper of the two tablets. Unlike the Smart Tab 10, there is no built-in kickstand. Instead, there will be a dock that users can prop the tablet up with. Under the hood, we’re looking at a MediaTek A22 processor, an 8-inch 1280×800 display, 2GB of RAM, a 5MP rear-facing camera, and a 2MP front-facing camera. It will be priced at $120 and will be released this October.

September 6th 2019, 10:23 pm

Whenever Apple hosts an event, they typically make it available for live streaming. However, in the past, the company has made it exclusive to their platforms, where you could either only stream it on an iOS device or a Mac device using their Safari browser. Apple has since slowly expanded its availability, where last year’s event could be watched live on Twitter.

This year, it seems that Apple will be trying to widen its audience as much as possible as and for the first time ever, Apple will be making its upcoming September iPhone event available for live stream on YouTube. This kind of removes all the restrictions that were previously in place, allowing anyone to watch the stream on any device and on any platform.

Apple is expected to launch three iPhones this year similar to last year. There will be a successor to the iPhone XR 2, which is rumored to come with a dual camera setup, an upgrade over its predecessor. There will also be successors to the iPhone XS and XS Max, both of which are rumored to come with a triple camera design.

Unfortunately, those hoping for 5G on this year’s iPhones will be disappointed as the feature is only expected to arrive in 2020. If you want to check out the live stream on the 10th of September, you can bookmark this page and check out the video above.

September 6th 2019, 10:23 pm

At IFA 2019, Garmin unveiled new smartwatches like the Garmin Venu GPS smartwatch. However, if you wanted something a little more superhero-y, you’re in luck because in addition to the smartwatches announced at IFA, Garmin has also taken the wraps off the Legacy Hero series of smartwatches.

These are smartwatches that have been designed and themed around some of Marvel’s superheroes like Captain Marvel and Captain America. This is not the first time Garmin has launched a Marvel-themed smartwatch, but this is the first time that the company will be launching a Marvel smartwatch for adults.

According to Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales, “When we launched the Marvel-themed vívofit jr.’s, we realized that the parents buying them were almost as excited about the product as their kids. Identifying with heroes and aspiring for greatness is something for all ages, and the Legacy Hero Series delivers on that in a subtle, elegant way.”

In terms of specs, both watches are identical in hardware. The only difference would be their design. Both watches will offer features like 24/7 health monitoring like sleep tracking with pulse ox, new respiration tracking, the Body Battery energy monitoring feature, stress tracking, and menstrual tracking, just to name a few.

The watches will also support on-screen workouts which will show you animations on the type of workouts you want to perform, giving you a visual guide. There will also be smart notifications, support for music playback, safety and tracking features, and laos support for Garmin Pay. Both the Captain Marvel Special Edition Smartwatch and First Avenger Special Edition Smartwatch will be available this October and will be priced at $400.

September 6th 2019, 10:23 pm

One of the camera features that we’re seeing rise in popularity these days is zoom. While zoom isn’t a new camera feature, these days more handset makers are introducing cameras that can zoom further than before while retaining impressive levels of detail, much like you would expect from an actual camera with a zoom lens attached to it.

We’ve seen companies like Huawei and Oppo introduce such cameras, and it seems that Google could also be introducing something similar to the Pixel 4 as well. This is according to a series of leaked photos posted on Weibo in which in one of the photos, it shows the camera of the phone in operation where it shows the 8x zoom slider at the bottom of the phone.

However, whether or not this will be on par with what Huawei and Oppo have achieved remains to be seen, as both these companies have achieved some truly impressive results. In addition to revealing the upcoming feature, it seems that the leaked photos also confirms that the Pixel 4 will come with 6GB of RAM. This is an upgrade over the Pixel 3 smartphones which only came with 4GB of RAM.

Some other alleged features of the Pixel 4 that we have heard in the past also include a 90Hz display and the use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. Take it with a grain of salt as Google has yet to officially announce a launch date for the Pixel 4 phones.

September 6th 2019, 8:36 pm

Ever since Apple introduced the iPhone X in 2017, the company has stuck to the design for its 2018 iPhones and they are also expected to continue using that design with 2019’s iPhones. If you were getting a bit bored of it, then maybe you’ll want to hold off on this year’s models and wait for 2020’s iPhones.

This is because reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that come 2020, Apple will be introducing a brand new design to its iPhone lineup. Kuo does not dive into details surrounding the new design, but he claims that it will one of the three “key improvements” that Apple will be making. The other two include 5G support and also camera function upgrades.

We did hear rumors that 5G could arrive in 2020 on the iPhone and this report more or less corroborates those rumors. Whether or not they are true is unclear. It is also not clear what kind of camera improvements we could be looking at. This is because this year’s iPhones are expected to come with a new triple camera setup so we’re not sure how different Apple could make it.

That being said, Kuo does not mention anything about an in-display Touch ID as being one of the new features. Recently it was suggested that the feature could arrive as soon as next year, but whether or not it will remains to be seen.

September 6th 2019, 8:36 pm

Have you ever made a call to a business only to be put on hold? Sometimes this can take a long time, depending on the nature of the call, but the good news is that one of the upcoming features of the Google Pixel 4 is that it might be able to hold the call for you and let you know when it’s time to come back.

This is according to a report from 9to5Google who claims that a source has told them that Google could be introducing a new feature to Google Assistant for the Pixel 4. Basically what happens is that when you are placed on hold, and usually there will be some background music accompanying it, a button will appear on the screen that will tell Google Assistant to takeover the call on your behalf.

This means that you can go about doing other things and take your attention away from the call, and when the caller gets back on the line, Google Assistant will let you know that you need to return to the call. That being said, despite this being a Pixel 4 feature, it might not necessarily launch with the device.

The publication’s sources told them that the feature is still in early development so while it might be announced at Google’s Pixel event, it might not necessarily launch on day one. Take it with a grain of salt, but hopefully Google will have more concrete details for us soon.

September 6th 2019, 8:36 pm

At IFA /Berlin, Qualcomm has announced plans to bring updated Snapdragon Series 7 and even Series 6 with 5G support built-in, instead of using an external modem Series 6 and 7 refers to the Snapdragon 600 and 700 series with the 675 and Snapdragon 730 being the most recent models.

For context, handsets equipped with Snapdragon 675 are in the $300 range, while Snapdragon 730 can be found in handset starting at the same $300 and go as high as $550, depending on other hardware elements.

Today’s most visible 5G phones available in the USA are the Galaxy S10+ 5G, Note 10+ 5G, and the LG V50 5G. They all cost from $1000-$1300 without a contract and use the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 855 along with the discrete Qualcomm X50 5G modem.

The first round of affordable 5G phone comes in the form of the new Samsung Galaxy A90 launching around 749 Euros in Europe (probably $750 in the US when available) and the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G which costs around $850.

The new affordable 5G handsets powered by the next Snapdragon 7-Series are set to appear in the second half of 2020, so it’s not really “imminent” but it’s worth considering if you plan on upgrading your phone between now and then.

So far, 12 phone makers have signed up to build phones based on the new 7-series, but during the press conference, Qualcomm also mentioned that 150 distinct device designs are currently using its 5G technology.

Qualcomm is building things up over technologies already mastered when it created its Qualcomm X55 5G modem, which also integrates 4G and earlier protocols. Of course, this technology will also make its way into the next Snapdragon Series 8, which Qualcomm typically reveals later in the year.

On the same day, Huawei has announced its Kirin 990 silicon, along with the Kirin 990 5G. We suspect that Kirin 990 5G aims at the $650+ market while Snapdragon Series 6 and 7 could reach the $300 market.

In any case, 2020 will see a serious 5G expansion on both the handset and network sides. Also, in 2021 we’ll probably see 5G come even lower in price.

September 6th 2019, 8:21 pm

Wireless chargers are typically not an exciting topic to cover as they differ only in maximum charging Wattage and price. However, WesternDigital/Sandisk have found the intersection between charging and backups, and this could save your data without requiring any effort.

This reality shows that a massive amount of users who don’t back up their phone’s data (contacts, messages, photos, and more) leaving them open to potentially irreversible or catastrophic loss if the phone was lost, stolen, destroyed or corrupted.

However, we know that all users do one thing, almost daily: charge their phone. SanDisk’s iXPAND combines a 10W wireless charger with an automatic backup functionality, giving you a daily backup every time you charge the phone.

iXPAND may be the ultimate backup solution for the backup-lazy user, as no-one is lazy enough to skip charging. This charger will backup (over WIFI) full-resolution photos and videos, and your contacts in its integrated storage.

Sandisk doesn’t explicitly mention if the WiFi connection happens over the local network, or if it uses a WiFi-Direct type of connection for the backup, but either would work fine, and the charging is a sort of trigger that activates the backup.

Conveniently, the charger can (separately) store data for multiple users in a household. It’s a nice touch in a world where too many services assume that there’s only one user. It is also possible to free up spaces on the device after the data has been backed up to the iXPAND. For all of this you need to download the iXpand Charger Mobile Application for iOS or Android.

However, we’re talking about users who don’t already utilize these options and might prefer this new alternative. In any case, it’s always exciting to see new products aimed at protecting possibly invaluable data that might never be rebuilt or recovered.

September 6th 2019, 6:22 pm

Netgear’s Orbi mesh system has been one of the most celebrated Wi-Fi 5 setup last year, and during CES 2019, the company had hinted that a Wi-Fi 6 version was coming. Orbi Wi-Fi 6 (Orbi WiFi 6 System AX6000, model RBK852) has finally landed at IFA / Berlin, and it is as powerful as we had hoped.

The smallest package contains two boxes, a “master” (RBR850) easily recognizable by its yellow Ethernet port in the back, and a “node” (satellite, model RBS850 ) that extends the range of the mesh to a different location. It is possible to add more nodes.

Each box has at least four Gb Ethernet ports, and the yellow port is to aggregate two Internet connections for up to 2.5 Gbps of maximum speed. Note that this aggregation is intended to be used with the same ISP and cannot be a load-balancing mechanism for automatic failure.

Wi-Fi 6 is the significant improvement of this release, and the theoretical peak performance is about 4X the performance of Wi-F5, thanks to proper use of concurrent streaming across multiple channels and antennas.

Behind the scene, the private wireless connection between nodes is also faster, going from 1.73Gbps to a maximum of 2.4 Gbps.

During our meeting with Netgear, the company mentioned that the router could handle 100 devices and 20 streams – a high bar that should satisfy the most demanding users, or those who want to “future-proof” their setup because no-one likes changing routers.

If you’re not familiar with Wi-Fi mesh networks, the concept is to have a unified seamless network, as if there was a single router – even though you may have 2 to 5 nodes. Your devices always connect to the best node, even though you may be moving around the house.

With non-mesh systems, had to use different passwords and connect manually as they moved around, or wait that a connection is lost before switching automatically.

All this advanced technology does come at a cost: priced at $699, the Orbi Wi-Fi 6 mesh network is instead an expensive upgrade proposition, but again for buyers who have invested in the latest gaming rig worth thousands and 4K / 8K televisions, it seems like having a high-performance is the key for having low-latency gaming and maximum streaming resolution on multiple screens.

September 6th 2019, 5:21 pm

HiSilicon has launched its new high-end mobile processor (or SoC) known as the Kirin 990 at IFA in Berlin.

Kirin 990 is the new chip that is expected to power both the high-end and select premium devices coming from Huawei / Honor for the next 12 months. HiSilicon is a Huawei subsidiary.

Kirin 990 and Kirin 990 5G bring a broad set of improvements, but the most visible to the consumers are going to be the CPU, Graphics and Storage performance and onboard 5G. 5G integration can have a lasting impact on phones’ cost, size and battery life. Variations in price also lead to variations in adoption rate.

Integrated 5G modem (Kirin 990 5G)

When 5G launched earlier this year, phone designs used two modem units: the main processor (SoC) with an integrated 4G LTE modem, and an external 5G modem. That is a typical first step when a new modem technology comes along, but does have downsides that include requiring more internal space and using more power because you need both 4G and 5G units active to hand over the signal if needed.

Integrating the 5G modem in the SoC avoids the above pitfalls, and that’s what HiSilicon has done with the Kirin 990 chip. The 5G unit can now share power and resources with the rest of the chip. Huawei claims that its solution requires ~36% less board space than competing ones from Samsung (Exynos 9825+5100 modem) or Qualcomm (Snapdragon 855+X50 modem).

However, Kirin’s 5G implementation isn’t complete: the mmWave (millimeter wave) technology, one of 5G’s two main radio protocol, is not supported. Competitors like Qualcomm do support it in their products, although not all phone makers have activated mmWave, perhaps because their region doesn’t support it. Depending on your carrier, this may or may not be an issue.

Some carriers rely heavily on mmWave because it lets them reach incredible speeds when the connectivity is excellent. Many carriers use Sub-6Ghz (“Sub-6”) which is a more versatile radio-frequency, but one that isn’t capable of 5G’s fastest performance.

Finally, Sub-6’s coverage is likely to be better than mmWave for the next year or two, because it takes a long time to roll-out a strong mmWave network, so statistically, you are more likely to be on Sub-6 or even 4G LTE, which remains the backdrop for 5G.

Better Image Processor For Better Camera Performance

All mobile chips include one or two Image Signal Processor (ISP) to support the computations required for incoming images from one or multiple cameras. ISP do the heavy lifting when it comes to image processing because they are the only units capable of running some image algorithms at high-speed on tens of millions of pixels.

This year, HiSilicon is promoting a better ISP-based noise-reduction approach called BM3D, which stands for block-matching and 3-D filtering, which is probably the most potent denoising algorithm that can be run in realtime, thanks to specialized units such as ISPs. There are even better techniques, such as WNNM, but they can’t run in real-time for now.

By the nature of the BM3D algorithm, de-noising can be applied very efficiently on single-frame photos or multi-frame photos or videos.

BM3D works by finding, multiple blocks that have similar patterns, either within the same photo, or across multiple frames. Because noise is random by nature, BM3D can find similarities between the blocks to treat certain types of differences (above a certain threshold) as “noise” and remove it (image courtesy of Jongmin Beak, Stanford).

Graphics Performance Back On Top

Kirin 990 features a similar graphics processor (GPU) design to last year’s Kirin 980, with a crucial difference: it contains 60% more computing units, going from 10 to 16.

That’s how GPU can scale performance almost linearly. Because graphics are “computationally unbounded,” throwing more compute units to the problem does accelerate it immediately.

In addition to the extra units, HiSilicon is also adding a share memory system called “Smart cache.” It is a small on-chip ultrafast memory that different sub-units can use to share data, instead of going back to the RAM.

It is intended to reduce RAM access slowdown in some situations, and Huawei says that this boosts graphics power-efficiency by ~20%, inducing a power-savings of ~12%.

This puts Huawei firmly back in the gaming performance race. As we’ve shown in our various smartphone reviews, Kirin 980 was lagging Snapdragon 855’s graphics performance by 14%-27% depending on the test. Huawei says that it now has a lead of 6% over Snapdragon 855, which is in-line with the extra hardware Kirin 990 is getting.

CPU & Storage Performance

To address CPU performance, HiSilicon is increasing the maximum operating frequency of the CPUs of all three CPU islands. The 8 CPU cores of both the Kirin 980 and Kirin 980 are separated in three islands, with different clock speeds (operating frequencies):

Highest performance: 2x Cortex A76 at 2.86GHz (from 2.60GHz) +10%

High performance: 2x Cortex A76 at 2.36GHz (from 1.92GHz) +23%

Power-Efficiency: 4x Cortex A55 at 1.95GHz (from 1.8GHz) +8.3%

The bump is very decent and could help for peak-intensity tasks, but overall keep in mind that increasing frequency isn’t as optimal as improving architecture efficiency because running higher frequencies isn’t as power-efficient, so a performance-per-watt metric might decrease.

Nonetheless, HiSilicon uses the dynamic frequency capabilities of the CPU clusters to seek a sweet spot for every task.

When it comes to storage, Kirin 990 supports UFS 3.0 a flash storage protocol to access the internal storage of the phone. Already adopted by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 and Samsung’s Exynos 9820, UFS 3.0 more than doubles the speed of the UFS 2.0 protocol supported in the current Kirin 980 chip.

That, coupled with the proprietary work that Huawei has done on filesystems, should lead to yet another round of low-latency app launches and general user experience (UX) performance. I guess we’ll know soon enough with the Mate 30 Pro launch, which is imminent.

A.I and Machine Learning Performance

Kirin is the chip that started the NPU war (Neural network Processing Unit) in the mobile space by aggressively marketing a variant of what was previously commonly called DSP (Digital Signal Processor) before. There are differences, but that was the move that put smartphone AI hardware in the news.

From the experience of the past few years, HiSilicon has developed a proprietary NPU design, called DaVinci and can build NPUs of various sizes depending on how many compute units are required.

Kirin 990 has two NPU based on that design, a small low-power and a large high-power one. As one can imagine, the low-power is designed to do things like Face Unlock with as little power as possible, while the other one is tasked to churning AI for games and other high-intensity applications as fast as possible.

In synthetic benchmarks, Huawei says that it can get a 1.88X speed improvements, so the race is still firmly on.

Conclusion

+10

Kirin 990 5G is a beast and raises the prospect of faster adoption of 5G in many parts of the world. 2020 is without a doubt the real year of 5G with that technology fully entering the high-end, premium, and perhaps the high-mid-range markets.

This new processor raises the bar across the board: user experience, application loading, execution speed, better imaging, better gaming: every single Kirin 990 user will enjoy benefits for his or her use case.

Now we’re looking forward to seeing the first wave of handset powered by Kirin 990, starting with the Huawei Mate 30 series.

September 6th 2019, 2:51 pm

Garmin unveiled Venu, its GPS smartwatch featuring an AMOLED screen that delivers up to 5 days of battery life. Since AMOLED technology uses less energy when the display background is black, it made sense for the smartwatch maker to create such a product.

Equipped with a 1.2” display and powered by the Garmin OS, the Venu is packed with health and wellness features. According to the manufacturer, the new AMOLED smartwatch “boasts the broadest range of 24/7 health monitoring features available in the market”.

In the wearable industry, Garmin is known for its focus on accurately tracking sport and fitness activities, usually with smartwatches dedicated to a single sport such as running or golf. The Venue is a multi-sport Venue and delivers 40+ on-device animated workouts for strength training, cardio, yoga, and Pilates.

The goal is to show the user the proper form for each exercise. You can either use the preloaded workouts, download workouts from Garmin Connect on your watch, or create your own workouts.

The device supports Garmin Coach, a training program for runners that features a virtual personal trainer to help with motivation. Equipped with a GPS and a heart rate monitor, the Venue is packed with over 20 fitness and sports applications that take advantage of these sensors.

On the relaxation side, Garmin offers new breathwork exercises. On the sleep side, the Venue features advanced sleep with light, deep and REM stages of sleep estimation.

When it comes to communication and social interactions, the Venue delivers smart notifications for incoming calls, SMS, social media updates, calendars reminders and more.

The Venue is compatible with Android and Apple mobile devices and will be available in September 2019 for $399.99 (MRP).

September 6th 2019, 1:05 pm

Wireless charging is useful because all you need to do is place you phone on the charging mat and you’re done. There is no fiddling with cables and to charge it or to un-charge it, it’s just a matter of putting your phone down and lifting it up. In some cases, some charging mats are big enough where you can charge multiple phones at once, eliminating the mess of having many cables strewn about.

These days, wireless charging is available on most phones, but yet there are some models that do not come with them. If you own such a model, not to worry because there are actually several ways you can go about adding wireless charging to it.

Wireless Charging Receiver

Wireless charging in phones basically relies on the phone having a built-in wireless charging receiver. If your phone doesn’t have one built into it, you can always add one externally. Nillkin has several options that are available to you, and the best part is that they’re small and thin enough where you can actually use them together with a smartphone case. They are also considerably cheaper so if you don’t like it, you won’t have spent too much.

There are a couple of different connectivity options for users to choose from, such as micro USB, USB-C, and also Lightning for older iPhone models. There are also options for longer or shorter cables, depending on how big your phone is.

Wireless Charging Case

If you don’t fancy the idea of using a wireless charging receiver, the alternative would be to get a wireless charging case. Basically, this is a case for your smartphone that comes with a wireless charging receiver built into it. This allows you to protect your phone and give it wireless charging capabilities at the same time.

Mophie actually offers quite a few options when it comes to wireless charging cases where there seems to be quite a lot of compatibility for the iPhone, but when it comes to Android, your options are considerably more limited. The upside to a wireless charging case compared to a wireless charging receiver is that they typically come with built-in batteries too, meaning that you can give your phone a boost in battery as well.

Wireless Charging Pad

Once you’ve either chosen a wireless charging receiver or a wireless charging case, the last step you’ll need to do is get a wireless charging pad. There are plenty of such pads available out there, so you’ll need to make sure that your receiver or case is compatible with it. To date, most wireless charging accessories rely on Qi so just keep an eye out for that and you should be good.

You also need to pay attention to the power output that the charging pad offers, where some cheaper models might offer a lower output which means longer charging times. At the same time, there is also no need for you to buy a powerful charging pad if the receiver or case you’ve chosen doesn’t support such high output anyway.

September 6th 2019, 10:29 am

When it comes to messaging apps, WhatsApp is probably one of the biggest messaging platforms at the moment. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the best. In fact, several other messaging apps previously launched features that WhatsApp only implemented much later.

In fact, if scheduling messages is a feature that you think should be part of a messaging app, perhaps Telegram could be worth considering. This is because in the latest update to the app, the company has introduced message scheduling as one of the update’s new features. The name itself is pretty self-explanatory where users can schedule messages to be sent at a later date.

This is handy because in the event that you are afraid that your message could get lost in the sea of newer messages, scheduling a message means that your message gets seen when you want it to be seen. Telegram also highlights how this feature can also be used in your Saved Messages chat, which allows users to turn planned posts into reminders of sorts.

The scheduled messages will also come with a special calendar icon to remind you that this is a scheduled message. In addition to scheduled messages, the update also introduces custom cloud themes that lets you customize Telegram across multiple platforms at once. There are also some UI updates, new privacy settings, and more.

September 6th 2019, 7:46 am

The other day, Samsung officially announced that their foldable smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Fold, will be relaunched and available for purchase in South Korea on the 6th of September. There is some skepticism surrounding the handset due to its asking price, but it turns out that there are a lot of eager early adopters.

According to a report from The Korea Herald, it seems that the Galaxy Fold is a hit in Korea where the first batch of phones were already sold out the moment they became available. There is no word on how many units were in this first batch, but the publication cites industry sources who estimates that there might be about 1,000 units available through the country’s three major carriers.

This does not take into account online sales or sales made through Samsung’s brick and mortar stores, meaning that the number of units sold could be much higher. Of course, 1,000 or so units isn’t a lot when you compare it to how many units the Galaxy S or Note series has sold, but for a first-of-its-kind device, it is impressive.

The Galaxy Fold is also priced at $1,980 which makes it about twice as expensive as a regular flagship. Of course, how it handles and whether or not the overall user experience is good remains to be seen, but for now, it looks like the phone is off to a good start.

September 6th 2019, 7:46 am

What started out as smart speakers quickly evolved into what we know as smart displays. These are essentially smart speakers that come with a built-in display which can be used for video calls, watching videos, seeing who’s at the front door, and more. However, one of the downsides to such devices is that you’ll need to purchase it.

If you don’t relish the idea of having to spend more money, you’re in luck because at IFA 2019, Google has announced a new feature coming to Google Assistant which the company is calling “Ambient Mode”. Basically, what this does is that it will take your Android device, like a smartphone or tablet, and turn it into a ready-to-go smart display.

According to Google, “Google Assistant’s Ambient Mode is a new visual overview that makes it easier to see notifications and reminders, start a playlist and control smart home devices on the lockscreen of your device. When you’re done, your screen will turn into a personal digital photo frame linked to your Google Photos account to add another personal touch.”

Unfortunately, the feature won’t be available across all Android devices just yet. According to Google, the devices that will be supporting Ambient Mode at launch include the upcoming Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD, Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab, and the newly-announced Nokia 7.2 and Nokia 6.2 smartphones.

We had hoped that maybe both parties were still negotiating behind closed doors, but according to Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra, that will no longer be happening. The CEO was quoted as saying, “For the moment the door is closed.” Despite that, he insisted that there was no ill will between both Sony and Marvel, although he hinted that the success of the two movies weren’t solely because of Marvel.

According to Vinciquerra, “We had a great run with (Feige) on Spider-Man movies. We tried to see if there’s a way to work it out….the Marvel people are terrific people, we have great respect for them, but on the other hand we have some pretty terrific people of our own. Kevin didn’t do all the work.”

Whether or not both companies will eventually come to an agreement remains to be seen, but in the meantime, actor Tom Holland has reiterated that he will continue to play Spider-Man. It has also been revealed that a third Spider-Man movie starring Holland will still be happening, although we’re not sure how Sony it will play out.

September 6th 2019, 7:15 am

For a while now, we have been hearing rumors and have also been treated to leaks that Sonos could be getting ready to launch their first Bluetooth speaker. Previously, the company’s speakers did offer support for wireless connectivity but it was through WiFi, meaning that they weren’t exactly ideal for portable use.

For those who love the Sonos brand and wouldn’t mind a set of portable speakers from the company, you’ll be pleased to learn that the Sonos Move has been officially announced. This is a portable speaker in the truest sense of the word, where the company has built it so that it has an IP56 rating, meaning that taking it out with you to the pool or to the beach should not damage the speaker.

You can get it dirty and give it a quick rinse and it should still continue to operate. Sonos has also built it so that it can within falls and bumps, although we guess you probably should be careful all the same. In terms of battery life, the Sonos Move will offer 10 hours of continuous playback and up to 120 hours of standby time.

According to Patrick Spence, CEO, Sonos, “Move takes freedom of choice to the next level. For the first time, you can take Sonos anywhere. Move marks the beginning of a new era for Sonos—one where brilliant sound not only fills your home, but extends to every part of your day.” The Sonos Move doesn’t exactly come cheap with an asking price of $399, but if you’re interested, you can pre-order the speakers from the company’s website.

September 6th 2019, 7:15 am

If you’ve ever been to the movies, there is a very good chance that you have heard THX’s very iconic “Deep Note” intro. It’s impossible to miss. However, the animation accompanying the audio is rather basic, but then again, we suppose the audio, not the animation, was kind of the whole point.

Fast forward to today, it seems that THX has decided that now might be a good time to give its trailer a makeover where together with creative studio American Meme, they have released a new and modern trailer. The audio remains the same, but the trailer has been designed to take you on an audio journey, and if you have a pair of headphones, you’ll find the entire experience rather trippy.

For those who are interested in seeing how all of this came together, THX has also released a behind-the-scenes video (see below) with American Meme where they talk through the entire process of how it all came together. In case you’re not familiar with “Deep Note”, the sound was created through a computer-generated glissando.

It throws together several octaves of varying pitches where it eventually resolves at the end, coming together in perfect harmony where sometimes you might even feel your seats rumble. If you have a few minutes to spare and a pair of headphones, the 2019 version might be worth checking out.

September 6th 2019, 7:15 am

While Sony has been kind of quiet on the smartphone front, at least compared to the likes of Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi, it doesn’t mean that they are no longer creating devices. In fact, if you are interested in getting your hands on a new Sony Xperia smartphone, then you might be interested to learn that the Xperia 5 has been officially announced.

This will make it the second flagship smartphone to come from Sony this year, where it seems that based on its specs, it will actually be a slightly smaller version of the Xperia 1 which was launched earlier this year. We’re not sure how Sony arrived on the Xperia 5 instead of the Xperia 2, but that’s the name that they are going with.

In terms of specs, we’re looking at a 6.1-inch Full HD+ display where it will continue to use Sony’s 21:9 CinemaWide aspect ratio, giving the phone a “longer” look compared to other aspect ratios. Under the hood, the phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. It will also be packing a triple camera on the back that sports 12MP image sensors with optical image stabilization.

We’re also looking at a 3,140mAh battery and Android 9.0 Pie as its operating system of choice. It will be going on sale in October where pre-orders for the phone will be going live in Europe next week.

September 6th 2019, 7:15 am

Apple’s AirPods are essentially a pair of Bluetooth headphones, and as such, they can be used with any device that supports Bluetooth connectivity. However, Apple has baked some features into it that make it a delight to use with an iOS device, such as faster pairing, being able to check battery levels, and more.

Now it looks like Huawei has launched Android’s answer to the AirPods in the form of the Huawei FreeBuds 3. These are a pair of “true” wireless headphones that will be powered by Huawei’s newly-announced Kirin A1 chipset. This chipset seems to be Huawei’s answer to Apple’s W1, where it will allow for faster pairing, lower power consumption, and also reduced latency.

However, it will only work with Huawei’s phones for now, so if you want to truly take advantage of them, you better own one of Huawei’s handsets. It will also trump the AirPods with one killer feature: active noise-cancelling. We have heard rumors that the feature could eventually find its way to the AirPods, but for now, Huawei has beat Apple to the punch.

LIVE: see the stunning new HUAWEI Freebuds 3 wireless headphones at #IFA19, powered by the Kirin A1 chip.

The accompanying Huawei app also comes with settings that allows the user to adjust how much noise-cancellation there is, so that users can fine tune it to their liking and preference. The FreeBuds 3 will offer 4 hours of battery life and its carrying case will let users charge it an additional four times, meaning that you’ll get an additional 20 hours.

There is no word on how much the FreeBuds 3 will cost or when it will be released.

September 6th 2019, 7:15 am

These days as our smartphones are more than capable of playing music, there is really no need to have an external media player. However, despite having come so far, we suppose tribute needs to be paid to Sony’s Walkman, the iconic music player from way back in the day that kind of kicked off the trend of portable media entertainment.

In fact, to celebrate the Walkman turning 40 years old, Sony has launched at IFA what they are calling the 40th Anniversary Walkman, but it’s not what you think. If you were thinking that the company was going to debut a portable cassette player, think again because the device is essentially a modern day media player housed in a case that resembles the Walkman from back in the day.

According to Sony, the design is inspired by the TPS-L2. It features a 3.6-inch HD display, a USB-C charging port, and also boasts a battery life of 26 hours. It will also come with a special cassette tape user interface and screensaver to make you think that you’re still listening to a cassette tape. It also supports WiFi and is powered by Android.

There is no word on when the device will arrive stateside, but it will be launching in Australia and Europe this December where it will be priced at AUD$599 and €440/£400 respectively.

September 6th 2019, 7:15 am

If you’re a small business starting out or if you’re just looking for a laptop for your employees to take with them when they’re out, but you don’t want to spend too much money, Lenovo has you covered. The company has recently taken the wraps off their new ThinkBook 14 and ThinkBook 15 laptops that are essentially cheaper versions of its ThinkBook series of computers.

In terms of specs and features, starting with the ThinkBook 14, this is a laptop that will come with a 14-inch display. It will also sport a Full HD resolution, and will be powered by either Intel’s 10th Gen Core processors (configurable up to an i7), or AMD’s Radeon 620 processor. It will also come with 4GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of SSD storage or 2TB of HDD storage. It also claims 12 hours of battery life.

As for the ThinkBook 15, this laptop will be slightly larger with a 15-inch display, but it seems that it will be retaining its Full HD resolution. Just like the ThinkBook 14, the ThinkBook 15 can be configured to use Intel’s 10th Gen Core processors up to i7, or AMD’s Radeon 625. There will be 4GB of RAM, and also up to 1TB of SSD storage or 2TB of HDD storage, along with 12 hours of battery life.

As you can tell, these laptops are pretty basic but functional. Like we said, if you need a laptop that’s cheap and gets the job done, these could be worth checking out. The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 will be priced at $649 while the Lenovo ThinkBook 15 will retail for $679, both of which will be going on sale this November.

September 5th 2019, 9:52 pm

In the past, we have seen Lenovo team up with Disney to launch the Star Wars: Jedi Challenge which allowed gamers to take on the role of a Jedi where through the use of augmented reality (AR) and the Mirage AR headset, it created an immersive gaming experience. Now it looks like Lenovo and Disney’s partnership will be extending to Marvel.

At IFA 2019, Lenovo and Disney announced Marvel Dimension of Heroes, a new AR-based game that allows gamers to take on the role of a superhero and fight against others in AR. This setup is slightly different from the Star Wars: Jedi Challenge because instead of a lightsaber, Dimension of Heroes will instead come with two “Universal” hand controllers that you hold in your hands while you fight off other Marvel villains.

The superheroes that gamers will be able to choose from include Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Star-Lord. The game will also come with several different modes such as Story Mode, Survival Mode, and Co-Op mode, the latter of which will allow gamers to play with each other, although it will require that both of you own the Lenovo Mirage AR headset and kit.

The upcoming Lenovo Mirage AR kit with Marvel Dimension of Heroes will be available for purchase on the 6th of September where it will retail for $250. In the meantime, if virtual reality is more your thing, you can check out our review of the Lenovo Mirage Solo headset.

September 5th 2019, 9:52 pm

These days a lot of jobs rely on us to use computers. This unfortunately also means that we need to stare at screens for extended periods of time, which can cause eye strain. However, if you’re trying to avoid eye strain, then you might want to check out Lenovo’s new Q24i and Q27q monitors.

This is because Lenovo has built features into these monitors that have been designed to reduce eye strain, making them the perfect companion for extended usage. This is thanks to the use of anti on-screen flicker technology, which has also earned the monitors TÜV Rheinland Eye Comfort certification.

Anti-eye strain features aside, the Lenovo Q24i is a 23.8-inch Full HD display with an IPS panel. It comes with a 75Hz refresh rate and also supports AMD’s FreeSync technology (which is AMD’s equivalent to NVIDIA’s G-Sync). There are two built-in speakers inside of the monitor itself, and will also come with a HDMI 1.4 port, a VGA port, and an audio out port.

As for the Lenovo Q27q, as its name implies, this will be a slightly larger model with a 27-inch display. It also has its resolution bumped up to 2560×1440. The 75Hz refresh rate and FreeSync support from the Q24i are also present, along with 99% SRGB for color accuracy. There are also a pair of speakers built into it with a HDMI 1.4 port, a DisplayPort, and an audio out port.

Lenovo Q24i, Q27q Monitors

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In terms of pricing and availability, the Lenovo Q24i is priced at $190 and will be released in October. The larger Q27q will be priced slightly more expensive at $300 and will be released later this month.

According to Facebook’s announcement, “Today, we’re launching Facebook Dating in the US. We’re also giving people the ability to integrate their Instagram posts directly into their Facebook Dating profile and giving people the ability to add Instagram followers to their Secret Crush lists, in addition to Facebook friends.”

For those who are learning about the feature for the first time, basically Facebook Dating will involve the user creating a new and separate profile to their main profile. Based on your preferences, listed interests, and other things you do on Facebook, the social network will then make recommendations on people that they think you might be compatible with.

Unlike Tinder, which requires both users to mutually “like” each other before chatting, Facebook Dating will let users chat with each other regardless. There will also be a “Secret Crush” feature that will let a Facebook friend know that someone likes them. The feature should already be live so check it out if you’re interested in taking part in it.

September 5th 2019, 8:24 pm

If you thought that Nintendo was done creating new hardware experiences for the Switch with their Labo kits, think again. This is thanks to a new teaser video released by the company in which new hardware experiences for the console have been hinted at. It is unclear as to what kind of accessories we are looking at, but it looks interesting.

According to the video, it seems to be some kind of circular accessory that is stretchy and expandable. It also seems that you can wrap things around your legs and squeeze it, giving gamers a new way of enjoying their games on the Switch console. It seems like it would be more suited for party-style games, so if you do enjoy these types of games, then this could be worth keeping an eye out for.

Nintendo has typically released games and accessories that take advantage of its hardware. For example, when the Switch was first launched, one of the highlights of the console was the 1-2 Switch game that allowed gamers to make full use of its Joy-Con controllers in unique and fun ways.

We’re not sure how this new accessory will work just yet, but Nintendo is planning to announce something on the 12th of September, so we should have more details next week.

September 5th 2019, 8:24 pm

People usually fall into the category of being left-handed or right-handed (although there are some who ambidextrous). However, the question is, what determines a person being either a lefty or righty? According to scientists, for the first time ever, they have managed to identify the genes that make a person left-handed.

This is according to a new study by scientists at the University of Oxford who published their findings in the journal Brain. Previously, there was a research conducted on twins that did hint that genes played a role in controlling a person’s handedness, but now this study seems to suggest a more concrete finding.

In fact, it seems to suggest that these genetic variants could have also resulted in brain structures being different in people who are left-handed, where they might have better verbal skills than those who are right-handed. The researchers isolated four genetic regions in DNA that are associated with left-handedness, where three of those regions were linked to proteins that influence the brain structure and its development.

They also analyzed brain imaging from about 10,000 people and found that the genetic differences were linked in the brain’s white matter tracts that connect to parts of the brain that are associated with language.

According to one of the researchers, Akira Wiberg, “This raises the intriguing possibility for future research that left-handers might have an advantage when it comes to performing verbal tasks, but it must be remembered that these differences were only seen as averages over very large numbers of people and not all left-handers will be similar.”

September 5th 2019, 8:24 pm

As the industry explores the expansion of mobile phone displays, LG has refrained from jumping too deep into foldable screens as it focuses on “tactical innovation,” which means that the company will only heavily invest in producing proven technologies.

As we have seen recently, folding screens are an impressive feat, but not entirely proven as a product, yet. The commercial release of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the imminent arrival of the Huawei Mate X (“this year”) will unearth a wealth of real-world data to the industry.

LG has already launched a two-screen handset, the LG V50 (+5G) Dual Screen. It consists of a smartphone, which connects to a secondary screen, which also serves a phone case.

It is not visually as compelling as a phone with a folding display, and the phone isn’t usable when closed. However, it does double the display’s surface at a much more affordable price point. LG is known to master foldable/rollable OLED TV technology, so it’s not a technological roadblock.

Fast forward from March to IFA 2019 and LG just launched the LG G8x ThinQ Dual-Screen, a dual-display phone for the masses.

LG G8x

This time, LG is connecting the LG G8x handset to the secondary screen via USB-C (via the case), which is probably more cost-effective than the wireless connectivity of V50. However, it makes the setup a little chubby at the bottom bezel.

The good news is that LG has learned from its first attempt: when the phone is closed, you can at least see some notifications, instead of nothing. That’s not perfect, but it’s much better than having to open the phone more often for mundane tasks such as checking why it has buzzed.

Using it in landscape mode has a bit of a Nintendo DS feel, but depending on your task, it may help a lot. Gaming with all the controls at the bottom is far better than having them on the main screen. The extended keyboard is another obvious one, with room for a trackpad, special characters and more.

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Reading documents or pages could now be done on two screens and makes the text more readable and images almost twice as large (from portrait mode). Arguably, this is a scenario where a folding screen is visually better than two discrete ones. But dual-screen could even be great to hold during vlogging with the selfie camera.

Running multiple applications on dual-screen on is another obvious one: having your email and the calendar, or some notes along with Google Maps. LG has done some leg work to make things work, but Google has promised to support more of this in Android itself. We hope that app developers spend the time to update their apps to support multi-screen.

The two screens are actually identical (including the notch) which means that they are exactly the same model and produced at the same location.

Coming from the LG G8 ThinQ phone which we reviewed, there are a few things that stand out. First, the display is larger at 6.4” (vs. 6.1”). The battery has been bumped to 4000 mAh, which is great, but remember that it might have to run with two screens. LG says that the phone can last a day with dual-screen, but it depends on what you’re doing of course.

The first LG G8 camera hardware isn’t particularly impressive on paper, but our LG G8 Camera review showed that it does produce a very good outcome, especially in ultrawide photography.

The new LG G8x has a very different camera setup, and we would have to evaluate it as a brand-new camera to see how good it is. We list the best mobile cameras and update things regularly.

Without know the launch price, it is difficult to estimate the true value of the LG G8x, but the LG G-Series is designed to be affordable. For example, launched at ~$899 in March, the original LG G8 costs ~$500 unlocked today.

The LG G8x seems like an attractive large-display phone and can double as an affordable dual-screen handset. It may not be the absolute best foldable, but the best folding phone may yet be the one you can afford.

Going forward, if LG could somehow make the dual-screen more useful when it’s closed (by adding yet another screen?), that would really push the needle in terms of user experience. But there’s only one way to know for sure: try it for a while, so off we go.

September 5th 2019, 7:54 pm

While Apple’s Face ID works like a charm, there are certain shortcomings to the tech that make many iPhone users miss Touch ID. For example, Face ID doesn’t work if you are wearing a mask, which sometimes cannot be helped, like when you’re wearing a headscarf of a ski mask. This is versus Touch ID which is admittedly more flexible.

However, there is some good news for those who miss Touch ID. A report from Bloomberg has suggested that come 2020, the iPhones could come with an in-display Touch ID sensor in addition to Face ID. However, Bloomberg also notes that there is a chance that the feature could slip to 2021, depending on whether or not it can be produced on a mass scale in time.

If you recall, this is not the first time that we have heard that an in-display Touch ID could be in the works. We had heard in May that the 2020 iPhones could be getting Touch ID. However, later analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that the tech could be released in 2021 instead. This report seems to be in between both, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, many other companies that make Android handsets have released smartphones that feature in-display Touch IDs, so Apple will definitely not be the first to the market.

Now, it does seem odd that Apple would launch such a device especially when you consider that its design and size does feel a bit “ancient” in this day and age, where we are seeing smartphones with displays over 6-inches and come with edge-to-edge screens. However, Nikkei claims that Apple is trying to position the iPhone SE 2 as a cheap iPhone, where they’re hoping to reclaim some market share in regions like China and India where Huawei, Samsung, and Xiaomi reign.

According to the rumors, the iPhone SE 2 will be similar to the iPhone 8 in terms of specs. This includes the use of an LCD, meaning that the phone would essentially be a device that features two-year old specs. We’re not sure how well such a device would do, but then again, we guess it will depend on how cheap Apple plans to price it, where it could be cheap enough for customers to overlook its specs.

In the meantime, Apple seems to be enjoying a fair amount of success with the iPhone XR, which while not cheap, is cheaper than the iPhone XS and XS Max for those who might not be too fussed about OLED screens or dual camera setups.

September 5th 2019, 7:06 pm

Ever since Apple Music was launched, the service was only available either through its desktop app or through its mobile app. While this is fine, it is a bit limiting compared to Spotify which has a web player in addition to its desktop and mobile apps. However, the good news is that Apple has finally caught up.

The company has officially launched an Apple Music player for the web, although we should note that it is still in beta so what you see now could change in the future. For now, based on its design, it seems to be reminiscent of the desktop version of Apple Music, as you can see in the screenshot above.

Those with an Apple Music subscription will be able to sign in via the web player and access their Apple Music like they would on their desktop or computer. For those without an Apple Music subscription, you can still browse the website and you will also be able to preview all the songs but not play them in full.

This is actually not the first time we’re seeing Apple Music for the web. Last year, there was an unofficial Apple Music player for the web that was launched. Perhaps Apple saw the demand for such a service and decided to launch their own. If you’re interested in taking a look at the Apple Music player for the web, then head on over to its website.

September 5th 2019, 7:06 pm

The Motorola One Zoom is the latest smartphone announced at IFA 2019, and its emphasis is clear: bring the latest in mobile camera technology into the mainstream market.

To achieve this goal, the Moto One Zoom ($449, no contract) comes with four camera modules that are each designed to improve on a specific task.

Three of the cameras have been integrated to capture in different scenarios, with an 8MP3X telephoto camera for zoom (hence the name) and a desirable 16MP ultrawide camera (117 degrees) lens to capture as much as possible of the scene.

The primary camera system (usually 25mm to 27mm) is backed by a 48 Megapixel sensor which has what Motorola calls Quad Pixel Technology, which is the ability to perform some Pixel Binning and combine the pixels of four pixels into one.

Doing so can help in night shots as we have often shown, thanks to our Uber-G Camera IQ (image quality) benchmark. Quad-Pixel can also be used to improve the dynamic range of photos as some sensors can capture with two different exposures, each using half of the pixels, to mitigate ghosting effects.

Finally, there’s a 5 Megapixel depth sensor, which is there to create a depth map to help with the Bokeh effect (out of focus blur) in portrait or large-aperture mode. In the galley below, watch the difference between standard, zoom and ultrawide lenses:

Motorola isn’t the first phone maker to come up with such an ambitious camera, but it may just be most powerful at this price point.

Motorola is probably the best-positioned company in the US market to make it happen. Others would include OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei or Honor (also a Huawei brand), but the Motorola brand has much more clout in some markets: it’s just the strength of history (and branding).

On paper, this phone’s camera setup looks impressive (for the price), but we will have to dig a little bit deeper before having a complete evaluation and a Hardware score to put it on the map.

The handset looks really good too! Motorola has done a great job with the back cover, which is actually made of (and feels like) glass, but it looks like brushed metal which might be less prone to having fingerprint marks (we’ll see).

The camera module still has a glass feel to it, and the Quad-camera placement (including the Flash) is done elegantly, including the logo integration. It’s very rare that a brand logo actually makes the ensemble look nicer, but Moto did a great job here.

The phone is made of quality material and this is really the top end of what you can do today at this price ~$450 point. Now, let’s look at key specifications:

This looks good. The Qualcomm processor is a good fit for this kind of mid-range and more importantly, it has enough muscle to support the camera system.

The RAM and storage capacities are very decent, and the battery capacity is very high. The battery’s charge speed is within the norms, but you can occasionally find faster charge speed, but at a higher price.

All in all, the Motorola One Zoom is one of the gems we found at IFA 2019, and we are looking forward to taking it for a spin.

September 5th 2019, 3:50 pm

Built as a “Productivity” laptop, the Yoga C740 also comes in 14” and 15” versions. As you can imagine, the 15.6” version has a little bit more battery life, but with only an estimated 1.3 hours more, it may not make that big of a difference to buyers who will likely choose based on size.

For the best multimedia experience, the 15.6” gets the best display option with an FHD 500-NIT HDR display. Other displays are certified for 300-NIT 72% NTSC, but all are certified for Dolby Vision with the speakers getting the Dolby Atmos certification.

In 2019 the 4mm left+right bezels seem to be the new norm in this line of products and that surely affects the design and the overall attractiveness when compared to other options on the market.

The Yoga C740 has security features such as the camera physical shutter called TrueBlock and a fingerprint reader, so don’t hesitate to use a very long (and secure) password.

Interestingly, Lenovo also has a Lenovo Yoga C640 that is a more affordable and smaller 13.3” laptop as it can be configured with an Intel Core i3 (Gen10). Size aside, it is generally comparable to the C740, but has more limited storage options (512GB max). That said, it is a laptop that can be configured with a 4G LTE modem, which makes sense since it is the ultra-mobility 13.3” Yoga computer at this price range.

These new Yoga laptops come with features such as Lock Screen Support, which is the ability to use the laptop as a voice-assistant (Amazon Alexa, in multiple languages) even when it is closed. Additionally, fetching emails and other background tasks can also be performed when closed.

The 14” and 15” version of the Yoga C940 share a similar design language with the iconic soundbar-hinge which has evolved into a more symmetrical piece this year. Their aluminum chassis is very well crafted and feel extremely rigid and sturdy.

Lenovo Yoga C940 14-inch

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However, the Yoga C940 14-inch is a little bit more advanced when it comes to computing platform and display technologies. At the moment, that particular model can be configured with Intel’s 10th generation processor (i5, i7) and 16GB of RAM.

Lenovo Yoga C940 15-inch

For creative work, the 14-inch is a very good display option with 4mm narrow bezels, 500-NIT of brightness (VESA HDR) and 100% sRGB color gamut. The 15.6-inch Yoga C940 seems more designed for home use, and features an equally bright display option, but with a 72% sRGB color gamut capability.

Lenovo Yoga C940 15-inch

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Lenovo Yoga C940 15-inch

We are a bit surprised to find a 9th generation Intel processor in the 15.6 C940, but it may have to do with the prices Lenovo are trying to achieve. We’ll ask when we have a chance. The good news for gamers is that the larger chassis can accommodate a discrete NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics processor, which has a lot more humph than the Intel UHD 950/960 of the 14-inch C940.

Both versions have a TrueBlock privacy shutter and multiple microphones optimized for voice-assistants. For security purposes, they also feature a fingerprint reader.

September 5th 2019, 3:02 pm

Lenovo and other PC OEMs have caught on the rising tide of creators, and the Yoga S740 is designed for them, with a great performance/price ratio that includes a discrete GPUs for intensive tasks such as video effects and compression. The Yoga S740 comes in 14” and 15.6”, and unsurprisingly the larger one is the most powerful one.

To give a Premium feel to this design, Lenovo is using an all-metal design, which is probably also good to dissipate some of the chassis’ heat as well. There’s also a numeric pad, to quickly enter these values to tweak your creation (or perhaps just a fancy excel file) and overall, the design is minimalist and neat.

Let’s go over the specifications of the 15.6” Yoga S740 to get some idea as for the level of maximum performance:

The 8-core Core i9 is a very powerful processor that will prove much faster for heavy video editing than 4-core alternatives. That said, the 14” version is not all that different, and comes with the 10th generation Intel Core i7. The differences in specifications are:

Obviously, you have to choose between being a bit more productive and being mobile, but the high-powered CPU options and the discrete NVIDIA graphics makes a world of difference for anyone using GPU-accelerated applications, or even apps that are only compatible with CUDA, NVIDIA’s proprietary technology.

September 5th 2019, 3:02 pm

Today TCL unveiled its brand-new TCL RAY.DANZ Sound Bar, a 3.1-channel Dolby Atmos sound system with premium audio. The TCL RAY.DANZ delivers a crisp and powerful 360-degree surround sound experience from a sleek and thin chassis that features a design inspired by car racing.

The Soundbar has two sideways-firing drivers that project the sound towards a reflector on each side. According to TCL, the reflectors bend the sound at an angle that allows creating natural reverberation and induces the perception of a much wider sound stage.

A third front-firing speaker with accurate voice positioning is there to deliver the audio of the dialogues

September 5th 2019, 9:13 am

If you’re in the market for a new TV box, then you might be interested to learn that Amazon has recently taken the wraps off their latest Fire TV Cube device. While the overall design of the new Fire TV Cube is essentially the same as its predecessor, it’s under the hood where Amazon has made the improvements.

According to Amazon, the new Fire TV Cube will be powered by a hexa-core processor, which Amazon claims will make it twice as powerful as its predecessor. It will offer access to Dolby Vision and 4K UHD content and play them back at 60 fps. Also, as expected of it being an Amazon device, there will be support for Alexa.

This means that users who want to control their Fire TV Cube using their voice will be able to do so. This includes the ability to scroll through content, go home, and make selections. According to Marc Whitten, Vice President of Amazon Fire TV, “Over the past year, we have continued to expand and advance the Fire TV Cube experience based on this feedback with dozens of new features including Multi-Room Music, Follow-Up Mode, and Alexa Communications. These key learnings carried over and guided the development of the second-generation Fire TV Cube, and we are excited to introduce this new-and-improved experience to customers around the world.”

The new Fire TV Cube will be available for purchase on the 10th of October where it will retail for $120.

September 5th 2019, 8:31 am

Recently, Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey had his Twitter account hacked. Apparently how the hackers managed to gain access to his account and send out some hateful tweets from it was through the “tweet to SMS” feature, which for those unfamiliar, allows users to send tweets via SMS instead of having to go to Twitter’s website or use the app.

It seems that following the hack, Twitter has since announced that they will be temporarily disabling the feature until they can better secure it. “We’re temporarily turning off the ability to Tweet via SMS, or text message, to protect people’s accounts. We’re taking this step because of vulnerabilities that need to be addressed by mobile carriers and our reliance on having a linked phone number for two-factor authentication (we’re working on improving this).”

When exactly it will be reinstated remains to be seen, but it seems that Twitter will be choosing to prioritize markets that rely on it first, when they do get around to it. According to Twitter, “We’ll reactivate this in markets that depend on SMS for reliable communication soon while we work on our longer-term strategy for this feature.”

We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for when the feature will be making its return, but in the meantime, how many of you actually use it instead of the Twitter app? Would you miss it if Twitter were to remove it?

September 5th 2019, 8:31 am

These days with social media, it’s easy to spread misinformation at a click of a button. Sometimes people do it unknowingly, but sometimes people do it on purpose, but the fact of the matter is that we need to be more careful and maybe slightly distrustful of what we read online until we can do further digging of our own.

Sometimes this misinformation can be harmful, like posts regarding vaccines where there are some parents who do not believe it in, claiming that vaccines can cause autism in children. However, to stop the spread of this misinformation, Facebook has since debuted new popup notifications whenever users try to search for vaccine-related information on its platform.

When users search for such information, they will be told that if they want more reliable and accurate information, they should visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or if they live outside of the US, they can visit the World Health Organization’s website.

In an email sent to CNN, CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund praised Facebook’s latest efforts. “We know that parents often turn to social media to access health information and connect with other parents, and it can be difficult to determine what is accurate and who the credible sources of information are.” This is not the first time that Facebook has attempted to curb misinformation in general, although these new popups seem to be targeted mostly at vaccine-related information.

September 5th 2019, 8:31 am

When it comes to refrigerators, the goal of these devices is to keep our food cold or frozen. However, over the years, we’ve seen Samsung try to reinvent the fridge by giving it hi-tech features. However, it seems that this year instead of stuffing its fridges with as much tech as they possibly can, the company appears to be taking a step back and focus more on design.

This has resulted in what Samsung is calling the BESPOKE fridge, where it appears that they have been created design-first where they are adopting a modular design. We’re not sure how exactly they will work in terms of modularity, but customers will be able to choose from a variety of different configurations to suit their needs.

As you can see in the photo above, the BESPOKE fridge is certainly going to be a talking point in any home thanks to the use of colorful panels. This seems to be catered more towards European customers, according to Harry Choi, Corporate SVP, Head of Design Team. “European consumers have a preference for built-in style kitchens and a desire to reflect the family’s identity and personal taste in their interior design. We are excited to see how Samsung’s new lifestyle innovations of quality craftsmanship and innovations such as the BESPOKE satisfy the unique needs of each household.”

There is currently no word on how much these BESPOKE fridges will cost or when they will be made available, but it could be worth keeping an eye out for for your next home.

September 5th 2019, 6:40 am

We were invited to IFA GPC in late April, a media event that showcased sneak peeks of the upcoming innovations presented now at the IFA 2019 conference in Berlin. Philips is well known for its business health tech solutions. However, during the IFA Global press conference, Marlies Gebetsberger, Personal Health Leader for the Market DACH of (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) at Philips, presented an overview of the company’s consumer health product portfolio and a preview of their IFA 2019 breakthroughs.

The presentation covered a broad range of devices addressing the needs of consumers in sleep, pregnancy, oral health, personal care, air quality, and nutrition.

Marlies Gebetsberger showed me a mockup of the band at the IFA GPC in April (see photos), so I could gauge the product design, but I could not try the user interface and the connectivity. Since I am not a snorer, I would not be able to try it and evaluate its effectiveness. We expect to see the final device today after the press conference.

When it comes to connected devices, we know that the value resides more in the user’s data enabling the delivery of personalized solutions than in the hardware, thus, Marlies Gebetsberger explained how Philips focuses on designing smarter consumer health services by combining AI, various technologies and relevant user experiences (labeled “Adaptive Intelligence” by the company). You can read more about the topic on Gear Diary, Judie Stanford published a great interview of Marlies Gebetsberger.

According to Philips and a Park Associates survey [1], about 40 percent of people in the US alone report difficulty in maintaining a sufficient amount of sleep consistently and according to the British snoring and apnea association, close to 25% women and around 40% of all men snore, disturbing the sleep of their partner.

With the SmartSleep Snoring Relief Band, Philips aims at addressing positional snoring with a clinically-proven personalized solution. People suffering from that type of snoring snore only when they are sleeping on their back.

Thanks to dedicated sensors, the band (around the lower chest) detects the user turning onto her back. That triggers adaptative vibrations to prompt the wearer to move onto her side to stop snoring. Compared to popular snoring relief solutions on the market, which include various mouthpieces, chin apparatus, and nose devices, this smart band is a lot less intrusive (other devices may address different types of snoring).

Philips SmartSleep Snoring Band Relief will be available this year in the U.S. and in 2020 in Europe and other markets. No word about the price at the time of publishing.